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Canada 






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rianitoba 
Alberta 
Assiniboia 
Saskatchewan and 
IpOJ Northern Ontario 



Western Canada 



MANITOBA 
ASSINIBOIA 
ALBERTA 

SASKATCHEWAN and 
NORTHERN ONTARIO 

How to Get There How to Select Lands 

How to Make a Home 



1901 



/ 



WESTERN CANADA 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Pagk. 

The Country to Settle ix 5 

Topography and Climate 7 

Manitoba 1^ 

Social A dvantages 13 

Mixed Fanning, Crops in 1900 and Dairying 15 

Cost of an Acre of \nieat and Lands for Settlement 18 

Homesteads, Rented Farms and Cheap Fuel 19 

Liberal Exemption Laws, Cities and Towns in Manitoba 21 

Settlers' Testimony 23 

ASSINIBOIA 29 

Ranching ^ 

Dairying and Towns 34 

Settlers' Testimony 35 

Delegates' Report 36 



Saskatchewan 



37 



Alberta. 



Ranching and Dairying 38 

Fisheries and Settlers' Testimony 39 

42 

Chief Towns ^^ 

Cattle Raising ^^ 

Minerals ^^ 

Settlers' Testimony ^^ 

Delegates' Report ^"^ 

System of Land Survey . ^'^ 

Free Homestead Regulations 58 

Mineral Lands Regulations ^9 

Government Land Offices t)0 

Railway Land Regul.vtions 6- 

C. P. R. Freight Regulations 64 

Canadian Customs' Regulations 66 

General Information— Western Canada 67 

How to Reach Western Canada |[5 

Northern Ontario ' ' 




TEN YEARS AGO 




A N I ) N ' ■ W - 



A. P. Stevenson's Home at Nelson, Manitoba. 



WESTERN CANADA 



CONSISTING OF 



Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and 
Northern Ontario 



THE COUNTRY TO SETTLE IN 



The Dominion of Canada occupying the northern half of the con- 
tinent of North America, is divided into the Provinces of Prince 
Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebwc, Ontario, Mani- 
toba and British Columbia, and the several Territorial districts, the 
principal of which— Assiniboia Saskatchewan and Alberta— with 
Manitoba, constitute what is generally known as Western Canada. 

Canada is to-day the most prosperous land in the world, and the 
record of the growth of Western Canada especially, is a marvellous 
tale of progress and advancement, of silent lands being peopled by in- 
dustrious settlers, of thriving towns and villages springing up where 
a few years ago only the Indian camped, of exports changing in one 
brief generation from bales of fur to train loads of golden grain. 

Canada, as a whole, is rapidly becoming one of the great nations 
of the earth. Western Canada is, of all its territories, the one with 
the most glowing future. Western Canada comprises the great 
arable prairie lands stretching westward from the Red River 
hundreds of miles to the Rocky Mountains and northward over limit- 
less leagues beyond the great Saskatchewan, peopled now by 
thousands of farmers, yet welcoming still the homeless of the world; 
and fringing this great prairie to the north and the east are great 
forests, filled with the wealth of the woods and big with promise of 
great mineral riches. 

In showing the extraordinary rapidity with which Canada's wealth 
is growing the official figures of Canada's trade are eloquent. The 
total trade of Canada with foreign nations during the year ending June 
30th, 1900, amounted in value to $381,625,353, being equivalent to 
about $300 for each adult male in the population. This was an in- 
crease of about $75,000,000 over the figures for the preceding year. 



6 WESTERN CANADA — THE COUNTRY TO SETTLE IN. 

which were on their part, $19,000,000 greater than for the preceding 
period. The exports of the country, made up largely of the products 
of Western Canada, in particular, have grown enormously; some five 
years' ago they aggregated in value $121,000,000, last year they were 
greater by seventy millions. The exports of animals and their pro- 
duce alone increased by over thirty millions in the last five years. 
Great as these figures are for the past year, they will be eclipsed for 
the present twelve months, for the current of Canada's prosperity is 
flowing steadily onwards. 

These figures tell their own story. They tell of a country fruitful 
and productive, with transportation facilities so perfect that the im- 
mense surplusage of products flows naturally to Europe and is there 
converted into cash. They tell of a country where poverty is unknown 
to the industrious; and where every man can gratify what to the 
European toiler must ever be an unattainable desire— the possession 
of his own farm and home. Western Canada's arms are still open, 
there are yet great stretches of virgin soil awaiting the ploughshare 
of the pioneer; but every year sees a contracting of the free land 
open for settlement, and those who desire a pick of locations should 
tarry no longer. The Dominion Government records show that last 
season nearly ten thousand men took up government land. When to 
this is added the great number who purchased their farms from rail- 
way and land companies, and computation is made on the basis that 
in most cases a homestead is the head of a family, it will be seen 
that the population of Western Canada is rising with unexampled 
rapidity. The free land is, in many districts, now almost exhausted, 
but farms in the very best localities, in immediate proximity to rail- 
ways, grain elevators, schools and churches, are obtainable by pur- 
chase on very reasonable terms. No active industrious immigrant 
need fear inability to secure a location; on the boundless prairies 
" land hunger " is as yet unknown. 

Western Canada, as described in this book, embraces Northern 
Ontario, a region about which great expectations of mineral wealth 
are entertained; Manitoba, the oldest settled portion ot the great 
western prairie; Assiniboia, where the physical conditions resemble 
those of Manitoba; Saskatchewan, occupying the fertile valley of the 
great Saskatchewan River; and Alberta, lying along the foothills of 
the Rockies, with varied agricultural, mineral and ranching possi- 
bilities. This book is designed to give authentic information about 
this great territory to the prospective immigrant seeking a spot where 
there is a sure reward for intelligent industry. From it the reader 
will learn what the general features of the several divisions of 
Western Canada are, and what kind of farming suits each locality. 
Some districts are suitable for ranching, some for wheat growing, 
some for dairying, some for mixed farming. The information about 
each locality is supplied in part by residents who, having themselves 



TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF WESTERN CANADA. 7 

been successful, are willing to encourage new settlers by giving them 
the benefit of their experience. The story of success told in these 
pages by happy and prosperous farmers could be duplicated from no 
other part of the world. This book also contains information con- 
cerning the best way of getting to the west, full particulars of govern- 
ment and railway land regulations, the principal towns and markets, 
etc. It is a text-book of the natvu'al advantages of Western Canada; 
and a guide book as well. 



Topography and Climate of Western Canada 

The Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, Dr. G. M. Daw- 
son, G.M.G., speaking of the Great Northwest of Canada, or The 
Interior Continental Plain, says: " Thus on the 49th parallel, consti- 
tuting here the southern boundary of Canada, the plain has a width 
of 800 miles," and narrows gradually to the northward, extending to 
the Arctic Ocean. " The southern part of this gi'eat plain is not 
only the most important from an economic point of view, but is also 
that about which most is known. It includes the wide prairie 
country of the Canadian West, with a spread of 193,000 square miles 
of open grass land, an area more than twice that of Great Britain." 

The whole country spreading from the forest region of the east 
to the Rocky Mountains on the west, is very concisely described in 
" Climates of Canada," by P. H. Bryce, M.A., M.D., secretary of 
the Provincial Board of Health of Ontario, who says: 

" The lowest area of the plains is that of Manitoba, the Red 
River from the south, the Saskatchewan from the west, and their 
tributaries all trending towards Lake Winnipeg and thence to 
Hudson's Bay. All this great area extending for some distance 
to the height of land in Dakota, U.S., shows evidences of once 
havins: been an immense inland sea, with its several beaches 
marking more or less distinctly the successive levels of the waters 
of what geologists have chosen to call the great post-glacial Lake 
Agassiz. A black alluvium of the richest nature covers practi- 
cally the whole of this country, and makes , the great wheat-fields 
of the Canadian Northwest, yielding their ' Manitoba No. 1 hard.' 
The lowest area of this region is limited westward by the Pembina 
Mountains, Riding Mountains, and the Porcupine Hills, having a 
general level of 800 feet. Westward the next area reaches a height 
of some 1,500 feet, and runs westward some 250 miles, when the 
next elevation of 2,000 feet is reached. This country, the Grand 
Coteau, rises till a height of 4,000 feet is reached in the foothills 
of the Rockies in the region about Calgary. This upland shows 



8 TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF WESTERN CANADA. 

more evidences of deep erosion of the valleys of its sCreams, and 
has here and there bluffs with high hills and plateaus, notably 
the Cypress Hills north of the American desert, with climatic 
peculiarities quite its own. This whole higher region, marked 
notably by a greater dryness, is essentially a grazing or ranch- 
ing country. While cold, owing to the altitude and the exposure 
of the plains to the winds from the mountains, its dry plains are, 
nevertheless, covered with the peculiar bunch grass of the country, 
which has served to make the foothills of the Rockies the greatest 
stock-raising areas of the continent. The climate of the whole 
great prairie :,ountry of the Canadian Northwest is marked by seasonal 
rather than daily extremes, except in the nigher foothills of the 
mountains to the west, where the daily range is notable." Referring 
in still more definite language to the climate of this splendid agri- 
cultural region, the remarks of Mr. R. F. Stupart, Director of the 
Meteorological Service of Canada, will be read with much interest 
by those familiar with the climate of England and Eastern Canada: 
" The salient features of the climate of the Canadian Northwest 
Territories are a clear, bracing atmosphere, during the greater part 
of the year, cold winters and warm summers and a small rainfall 
and snowfall. Tha mean temperature for July at Winnipeg is 
66°, and at Prince Albert 62°. The former temperature is higher 
than in any part of England, and the latter is very similar to that 
found in many parts of the Southern counties. The diurnal range, 
however, is different from any found in England, the average daily 
maximum temperature at Winnipeg being 78°, with a minimum of 
53° and at Prince Albert a maximum of 76°, with a minimum of 
48°; and owing to these high day temperatures with much sunshine 
the crops come to maturity quickly. 

" In April the monthly mean temperature of 40° is found in Al- 
berta and Assiniboia, and passes eastward to Manitoba, indicating 
a spring slightly in advance of southwestern Ontario, on the 42nd 
parallel of latitude. Spring in April makes rapid strides in Mani- 
toba, with an average day temperature of 48°. 

" In considering the climate of the Canadian prairies, the fact 
should not be lost sight of that although the total rainfall averages 
only 13.35 inches for the Territories and 17.34 inches in Manitoba, 
the amounts falling between April 1st and October 1st are respec- 
tively 9.39 inches, and 12.87 inches, or 70.3 and 74.2 per cent, of the 
whole. The average 12.87 inches in Manitoba is not far short of 
the average for Ontario during the same six months." 

Again quoting from "Climates of Canada": 

" The bright, clear cold of the ordinary winter day of Manitoba 
is most enjoyable. With little or no thawing and no sea of un- 
congealed great freshwater lake to supply dampness, the air is 
crisp and dry, and where in England or on the seacoast. with a 



10 • TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATK OF WESTERN CANADA. 

few degrees of frost the air is chill and raw, many more degi-ees 
of cold in the Canadian Northwest is only enjoyable and stimulat- 
ing. 

" The winter goes, as it comes, almost in a day. The crescent 
sun pours his powerful rays through the transparent atmosphere, 
and, when the thaw has begun, the great atmospheric disturbances, 
caused by the heated cenfres, cause the northwest wind to blow and 
lick up the water, v.'hich covers the plains, seemingly all in a day. 
One has not infrequently seen the water on the low ground a foot 
deep in the morning and gone in the evening; while in another 
day or two the black alluvium, which like the blackened plate of 
glass a"bsorbs heat in seemingly enormous quantities, is dry and 
powdery on the fields ploughed in the autumn. Seeding proceeds 
when the frost is not more than four inches out of the ground. 
Then in a few days' the prairie is dotted with the spring flowers. 
Seldom is the spring long, damp and cold. Spring comes, growth 
is phenomenal, and the harvest of spring wheat is ripened in the 
middle of August. With such a soil, marvellous in the amount 
of its plant foods, and with the long, bright, even occasionally hot 
summer day, the metabolism of the plant cells is so rapid as only 
to be likened to the growth of plants under glass. To the plod- 
ding, laboring, waiting husbandman of England or Scotland it 
seems so unreal as to be incredible that four, or at the most five, 
short months should yield for an area of 1,500,000 acres some 30,- 
000,000 bushels of wheat, and as much more of other grains, to 
feed the toili/ig millions of continental cities." 

Men travel with teams everywhere, taking gi-ain to market, 
hauling fuel, building and fencing material, etc. Stock will live 
out of doors, so far as the cold is concerned, but at times require 
to be fed with hay. They should, however, be housed at night. 
Everyone unites in testifying to the healthfulness of the country 
as it affects stock. Ploughing is general in the early part of April, 
though much of the land is usually ploughed in the preceding au- 
tumn. The snow disappears rapidly and the ground dries quickly. 
Winter closes promptly and decisively. Sowing is done during al- 
most the whole of April, and is finished early in May. 

Dr. James Patterson, late chief health officer of Manitoba, re- 
ports: — " That the climate is a good one for the development of man 
is shown by the fact, that those who have come here during the last 
20 years have not deteriorated, but stand to-day the equal of any 
other people in mental or physical vigor, independent thought and 
action. That the climate is a good one for the propagation of our 
race is shown by our school population, which is larger in propor- 
tion to our whole population than most others. That our climate 
is not the severe one that it is believed by many to be, is shown 
by the average attendance at school of all children of school age, 



TOPOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE OF WESTERN CANADA. 



11 



being about equal In winter and summer, except in sparsely set- 
tled rural districts. We enjoy special immunity from cyclones and 
blizzards, and whoever &aw a dust or sand storm in Manitoba? 
The number of absolutely clear, sunshiny days in this country Is 
not exceeded in any other good agricultural country habitable by 
white men. We have an average of 200 clear days out of 865. In 
Great Britain, on an average, 6-lOths of the sky is obscured by 
clouds every day in the year. With regard to disease, we have 
none whatever peculiar to this country or climate. We are ab- 
solutely protected by our climatic conditions from several of the 
most dangerous and fatal, whilst several of those which are com- 
mon to all peoples on the face of the earth are comparatively rare, 
owing to our climate. For example, we have never had and never 
will have cholera, yellow fever, malaria or dysentery, so common 
and fatal to the inhabitants of warm climates. Inflammatory 
rheumatism is extremely rare as compared with its prevalence in 
cool, damp climates. Asthma rarely develops here, whilst many 
who suffer from it in the east are free from it in Manitoba. Con- 
sumption, which is the scourge of the British Islands and the 
United States, is as yet comparatively rare with us. Our pure, 
dry air, our sunshiny days, and opportunities for outdoor life are 
antagonistic to its existence." 




FRUIT AT THE BRANDON FAIR 



V^ MANITOBA — RICHEST SOIL IN THE WORLD. 



MANITOBA 



The Province of Manitoba situated in the very centre of the 
North American continent, lies midway between the Atlantic and 
Pacific oceans. Its southern frontier, bordering on the United States, 
is about the same latitude as Paris and the south of Germany, 
and the province itself is further south than the British Isles, 
Holland and Belgium. 

Manitoba has an area about the same as is contained in England, 
Scotland and Ireland put together. Its width is about 300 miles, 
and extends northerly from the 49th parallel, comprising within 
its limits the famed grain-growing valleys of the Assiniboine and 
Red Rivers. Although called the Prairie Province of Canada, Mani- 
toba has large areas of forests, numerous rivers, and vast water 
expansions. Its forests in the east, along the rivers and fringing 
its great lakes, and on its mountain elevations furnish the settlers 
with fuel. Its principal rivers— the Red, Assiniboine and Pembina 
—give a great natural drainage system to all parts of the pro- 
vince, and smaller streams form a perfect network throughout the 
country. Its larger lakes— Winnipeg, Manitoba and Winnlpegosis 
—abound with fish, which are caught in immense quantities by 
organized companies for export to the principal cities of the United 
States and to supply the local demand. Aside from the utility 
of these natural advantages put to a practical use, all combined, 
forests, rivers and lakes, have a mighty influence on the climate 
of Manitoba in increasing the rainfall and supplying an abundance 
of moisture. The population of Manitoba has steadily and rapidly 
increased during the past ten years and now numbers over 250,000 
people, the greater proportion of whom are engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. The majority of the settlers are from Great Britain 
and Eastern Canada. Of the remainder there are, besides many 
from the United States, large colonies of Mennonites, Icelanders, 
Scandinavians, Germans and other nationalities, many of whom had 
but small means on arrival in the province, and at present they 
have comfortable homes, and are amongst the most properous 
settlements in Manitoba. An evidence of the growth and prosperity 
of the province is given in the value of her farm buildings erected 
during 1900, which amounted to $1,361,090. 

The soil is a rich, deep, argillaceous mould, or loam, resting on 
a deep and very tenacious clay sub-soil. It Is specially adapted 
to wheat growing, giving a bountiful yield of the finest quality, 
known the world over as Manitoba No. 1 hard wheat. During 



MANITOBA — SOCIAL ADVANTAGES, 13 

the past ten years, about 225,000,000 bushels of wheat have been 
exported from the Province. 

J. F. Hogan, the well-known Irish-Australian member of the Im- 
perial Parliament for Mid-Tipperary, says: " Manitoba is a most 
progressive province. It receives emigrants from all quarters of 
the world, and is therefore a most cosmopolitan community. It 
has an immense and very fertile territory, which is now being filled 
up by good emigrants. I was very pleased with the various set- 
tlements I visited in Manitoba, and I venture to prophesy that it 
will shortly be one of the most prosperous and populous sections 
of the British Empire." 

The leading grain exporter of Boston, Mass., U.S., Mr. Fred 
Brown, who recently visited the Province, says: " I have year after 
year travelled through the grain-producing sections of Kansas and 
Minnesota, but the province of ManitoTDa has the finest wheat fields 
I have ever seen." 

Social Advantages 

Manitoba fully enjoys all the advantages of advanced civilization. 
It has over 2,000 miles of railway within its boundaries, which have 
been built since 1878. The main line of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway runs through th. province east and west, and it has 
branch lines running in all directions, ana other railways also 
operate in Manitoba. Telegraph lines branch out from Winnipeg to 
all parts of the province. Wherever settlers are, may be found vil- 
lages, schools, churches and postal facilities. There is a uniform 
system of non-sectarian schools which are supported partly by 
liberal grants from the Provincial Government and partly by a tax 
imposed on land for this purpose. Every child of school age is en- 
titled to free tuition, under teachers who must pass a thorough ex- 
amination and have special training for the work. A thorough 
practical education is assured in the public schools which on January 
1, 1900, numbered 1,313, there being 1,095 organized schools districts. 
There are also 39 intermediate schools at central points, three Col- 
legiate schools, five colleges (four in Winnipeg and one in Brandon), 
and a University. The school population has increased from 7,000 
in 1881 to 59,811 in 1900, and 1,472 teachers are employed. All 
the religious bodies found in Canada are represented in Manitoba. 
There is no state church in Canada, every religion being alike In 
the eyes of the law. Churches of the leading denominations are 
established in the towns and villages, and even in the newer and 
scattered settlements arrangements are usually made for holding 
union services of the different denominations. There are lodges 
of the different fraternal orders— Masons, Oddfellows, Foresters, Tem- 
perance, etc., etc. — throughout the country, and numerous Y.M.C.A.'s, 




BARLEY. BALDWIN S FAUM, MANITOBA 




MOTHERALL FARM, MANITOU, MANITOBA 



MANITOBA — DAIRYING. 15 



Women's Aid societies and sewing circles. The farmers have 
organized a number of societies which are of inculculable value to the 
agricultural interests of the province. There are over 50 agricutural 
societies, which hold annual fairs, 25 Farmers' Institutes for the dis- 
cussion of practical questions, a Dairy Association, Cattle and Swine 
Breeders' Association and a Poultry Association. Municipalities 
have been organized in the settled portions — there being 75, besides 
the incorporated cities, towns, etc. 

Mixed Farming 

For years the nutritious grasses of the prairies and thousands 
of tons of hay in the low lands were allowed to go to waste for 
want of cattle to graze, and feed upon them. Settlers are now 
availing themselves of this natural wealth, and are giving more 
attention to stock-raising and dairying instead of confining their 
efforts to wheat growing as formerly. In 1900 the number of horses 
in the province was 118,629; cattle, 237,560; sheep, 25,816; pigs, 
77,912. 

Crops of 1900 

The crop area and total yield of grain, roots, etc., of Manitoba 
for 1900, were as follows, according to the official returns: — 

Under Crop. Total Yield. 



s. 18.025,252 bushels. 
.S,814,320 
2,515,196 
164,313 
34,390 
2,058.210 
1,452,780 



Wheat 1,806,215 acr. 

Oats 57:^.950 

Barley 178,525 

FJax 20,455 

Other gi'ains '. . . . 11,625 

Potatoes l(i,,s.")0 

Roots 7,482 

Total crop, including Rye, Peas, 

Corn, etc 2,614 134 " 24,553,471 

Owing to the exceptionally dry weather of the early part of the 
year, and the rains of August and September, conditions which 
prevailed to a greater degree in the country lying to the south of 
Manitoba, there was a conisiderable shortage in the crop of 1900 as 
compared with 1899, but the returns on the whole were very much 
better than was anticipated earlier in the season, and with the pre- 
vailing good prices, the farmers are generally prosperous. Consid- 
ering the unusual climatic conditions, the yield was a very good 
one, that no other country could produce under the circumstances. 

Daipyinsf 

Thirteen years ago no dairying was done in the province except 
by a few farmers who made a limited quantity of dairy butter for 
their own use, and not enough to supply even that demand. About 
the year 1888 the first creamery was established in Manitoba. Up 
to six years ago there were but five creameries in the province, 
and about 19 small cheese factories. In the early part of 1895 
the Manitoba Government undertook to advance the dairy industry 



MANITOBA DAIRYING. 17 

of the province, and with very successful results. The govern- 
ment granted aid to the farmers to establish creameries and cheese 
factories throughout the province, where joint stock companies 
were 30 cheese factories in operation in 1900, some of them havin,? 
1895 14 new jreanreries wee estal)lished. making 19 in all in the 
province. In 1896 five additional creameries were established, and 
later five more were added to the list, making a total of 29. There 
were 30 cheese factories in operation in U)00, s mie of them having 
been changed into creameries. 

In T896 the Governement established a dairy school in the city of 
Winnipeg which has proved a great success and a great benefit to 
the province generally. There has been a large attendance of 
students at every session. The majority of butter and cheese makers 
that are managing factories in Manitoba at the present time are 
those who have taken a course in the school. The Manitoba Govern- 
ment Dairy School is a free gift to all residents of the Provi^c^ 
of Manitoba. The school is fully equipped with all modern machin- 
ery for giving instructions in both home, dairy and creamery butter 
making and factory cheese making. 

The estimated value of the dairy produce manufactured in 1894 
both in the factories and on the farms, was $34,000 worth. In 
1895 the actual export, taken from factory statements, was $198,000 
worth; while in 1896 another giand advaace was experienced, the 
value of the export bein£ $247,000 worth. In 1898 the output was: 
creamery butter, 96f:,025 lbs., valued at $179,494; dairy butter, 1.151,- 
620 lbs., valued at $160,593; cheese, 800,000 lbs., valued at $69,367. 
The output for 1899 was:— Creamery butter, 1,002,809 lbs., valued at 
$188,026.68; dairy butter, 1,354,240 lbs., valued at $195,552.25; cheese, 
848,557 lbs., valued at $86,980.16. In 1900, it was : —Creamery butter, 
1,254,511 lbs., valued at $240,515; dairy butter, 2,083,920 lbs., valued 
at P01,145; cheese, 1,021,258 lbs., valued at $102,330 

Manitoba is pre-eminently a dairy country, being exceedingly 
healthy for cattle and stock of all kinds. The facilities for dairy- 
ing in Manitoba are unexcelled by any province in the Dominion 
of Canada. In nearly every district the water supply both for 
stock and use in the manufacture of cheese and butter, is bounti- 
ful. In many districts there is a pure running stream of water, 
which is a very important factor in carrying on mixed farming. 
The pasturage is very rich and nutritious, nature providing an 
abundant supply of variously flavored grasses, so that the dairy- 
men need never fear a shortage. One great faculty is that the 
soil of Manitoba does not have to be tilled in order to get pas- 
turage or hay for winter fodder. Fodder com for ensilage can be 
and has been grown to good advantage. Early maturing corn 



18 MANITOBA — LANDS FOR SETTLEMENT. 

will grow abundantly and mature sufBciently any season for winter 
feeding purposes. Excellent corn crops were growing last year 
which would produce twenty tons of good feeding material per 
acre. It requires very little labor to produce proper corn, and one 
great advantage is, the soil is being tilled when the corn crop is 
being cultivated thus preparing the soil for wheat- and other grain 
crops for the ensuing year. The climate is perfectly healthy. 
Manitoba being the natural home of the buffalo, it naturally fol- 
lows that the dairy cattle cannot fail to thrive well, and be main- 
tained in a perfect healthy condition. The cool nights that in- 
variably follow the hot summer days in this province, are a great 
advantage to the dairy industry. The milk can be kept sweet 
over night with little trouble; the cheese holds its flavor on the 
shelves for a good length of time. In short the climate is all that 
could be desired; it is favorable for dairying and where proper 
care is taken with the dairy cattle, there is sure to be a good 
paying profit to the dairy farmers of the province. 

Cost of an Acre of Wheat 

A careful estimate made by the superintendent of the Govern- 
ment Experimental Farm, at Brandon, of the cost of growing an 
acre of wheat is $7.76 (£1 12s.). This was the result of an ac- 
tual experiment on a yield of twenty-nine bushels. The it-ems 
of cost are: Ploughing, once, $1.25 (about 5s.); harrowing twice, 
20 cents (lOd.); cultivating twice, 40 cents (Is. 8d.); seed (lYa 
bushels), 75 cents (about 38.); drilling, 22 cents, (lid.); binding, 
33 cents (about Is. 4d.); cord, 10 cents (5d.); stocking, 16 cents, 
8d.); stacking, 60 cents (about 2s. 6d.); threshing, $1.46 (6s); team- 
ing to market, 4 miles, 29 cents (about Is. 2%d.); two years' rent 
or interest on land valued at $15 per acre at 6 per cent., $1.80 (about 
7s. 5d.); wear and tear of implements, 20 cents (lOd.)— a total of 
$7.76 or say (£1 12s.) 

Lands for Settlement 

The impression that Manitoba Is already " filled up " is incorrect. 
In the Red River Valley of Manitoba are in round numbers 2,800,000 
acres, of which up to the present time only 650,000 have ever been 
cultivated. Again, south of the main line of the C. P. R. to the 
boundary of North Dakota, west of the Red River Valley, are 4,600,000 
acres, of which only 1,200,000 acres have been cultivated. To the 
north of the main line of the C. P. R., within reach of railroads are 
another 4,600,000 acres, with only 850,000 acres cultivated. Here are 
millions of acres of the best land in the Northwest for sale on easy 
terms at prices ranging from $8.00 to $5.00 per acre. 



MANITOBA. HOMESTEADS. 19 



Homesteads 

Homesteads can still be obtained on the outskirts of present set- 
tlements to the east of the Red River, and between Lakes Winni- 
peg and Manitoba, on the west of Lake Manitoba,, and in the newly 
opened Lake Dauphin and Swan River Valley Districts, through which 
railway communication with the great transcontinental system is now 
completely established, as well as in the extreme western portion of 
the province tributary to the Pipestone Branch of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway. These districts are specially adapted for mixed 
farming, having abundance of hay and water, and with timber 
near at hand for building purposes. The province still affords a vast 
field for experienced farmers who can bring money with them to 
make the first Improvements on land, to provide themselves with 
stock and implements and fo carry their families through the first 
year. Manitoba has room for thousands, With a sure road for them 
to comfort and prosperity. The early settlera of Manitoba were all 
of this class, bringing in carloads of stock and plenty of money to 
keep them a year. The cost of transportation to-day is not one-half 
of what it was in the early 80's. when everything had to come by way 
of tEe United States. Lumber for building can be placed on home- 
steads for not more than half the cost in the early days, while 
machinery, feed, grain, groceries, Sry goods, etc., can to-day be 
purchased at reasonable figures. In short, a settler with $1,000 can 
place himself as well as did the settler with $2,000 ten or twelve 
years ago, and in all parts of Manitoba products can be disposed 
of within a few miles of any settler, at the nearest railway station. 

Rented Farms 

Opportunities frequently occur In the older settled parts of the 
province to rent a farm for one year or longer. This enables the 
newcomer to make a start, and gives him time to select land of his 
own. The rental depends largely upon the kind and value of the 
improvements. Rented farms are generally secured during the win- 
ter or early spring. Some of the most successful farmers of Mani- 
toba commenced life in the west by leasing a farm until they were 
able to secure one for themselves either by homesteading or pur- 
chase. 

Cheap Fuel 

Besides the large tracts of forest, both in and adjacent to Mani- 
toba, there are vast coal areas within and contiguous to the pro- 
vince of such extent as to be practically inexhaustible. It has been 




:r. iS^:WMM.i.^ -f-y-i^w 



.ift»*Ar--„^., 



'■'^**5«W5SeS!ff-9BW«i«8f^ 



DEVINE S I'AKM, NEAR BRANDON 




GRAIN ELEVATORS AT CARBERRY, MANITOBA 



MANITOBA — ITS CITIES AND TOWNS. 21 

discovered that between Red River and the Rocky Mountains there 
are some 65,000 square miles of coal-bearing strata. 

The Manitoba Legislature has effected an arrangement by which 
this coal is to be supplied at a rate not to exceed $2.50 to $5 per 
ton, according to locality. With the extraordinary transportation 
facilities possessed here, controlled and regulated as far as possible 
by the Legislature, and with enormous deposits of excellent coal, 
easily and inexpensively available, Manitoba enjoys most exceptional 
advantages, assuring an ample and cheap supply to all her inhabi- 
tants. 

Liberal Exemption Laws 

Manitoba has a liberal exemption law; that is, the law protects 
from seizure for debt, where no mortgage exists, a certain num- 
ber of horses, cattle, swine and poultry, some household effects and 
a year's provisions, so that if a settler who has not mortgaged his 
property is overtaken by misfortune, through illness or other cause, 
he cannot be turned out of his house and home, but obtains time 
to pay his indebtedness and retains the means of living while he 
recovers himself. If he desires to borrow money, as he may qome- 
times do with advantage to himself, he can secure loans on his 
farm property from loan societies on easy terms of repayment. 

Cities and Towns in Manitoba 

Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, and the largest city in Can- 
ada west of Lake Superior, is about midway between the Atlantic 
and Pacific oceans. It is sixty miles north of the international 
boundary line between Canada and the United States, and forty 
miles south of Lake Winnipeg, a large body of fresh water teem- 
ing with fish, and with shores that are in many places heavily tim- 
bered. The city stands at the confluence of the Red and the As- 
siniboine Rivers, and almost on the eastern verge of the great 
prairies and plains that stretch to the Rocky Mountains. To the 
eaat is the rich gold-bearing region of New Ontario which em- 
braces the country from Lake of the Woods to Lake Superior, 
and is largely tributary to Manitoba. Winnipeg is a great railway 
centre. Ten main or branch lines radiate in all directions, and 
two other lines find entrance over the rails of the Canadian Pacific 
Ry. Co. The gn'owth of Winnipeg has been phenomenal. In 1870 its 
population was 215; in 1874 it was 1,869, and the total assessable 
properly, $2,676,018; in 1880, the figures were: Population 6,245, as- 
sessable property, $9,156,085; in 1890, the population had risen to 
23,000, and the assessable property to $18,612,410, and in 1900 to 
42,534 population, and $25,077,460 assessable property. Winnipeg is 



22 MANirOBA ITS CITIES AND TOWNS. 

naturally a centre for the wholesale and jobbing trade of the North- 
west, and the merchants carry immense stocks required to supply the 
varied wants of the farming, ranching, mining, fishing, and lumber- 
ing, as well as the other industries which flourish throughout the 
country. Every branch of business is represented; all the principal 
chartered banks of Canada have branches here, and there are a large 
number of manufacturing establishments, including furniture factor- 
ies, flour and oatmeal mills, breweries, meat curing and packing 
factories, foundries, boiler and machine shops, cigar factories, coffee 
and spice mills, grain bag factory, soap works, tanneries, planing 
and sawmills, harness and saddlery factories, biscuit and confec- 
tionary factories, tile and brickyards, carriage works, marble works, 
oil mills, book-binderies, tent and mattrass factories, etc., etc. The 
pork packing establishment -has a daily capacity of 500' hogs. 
There are extensive stockjards, and an immense abattoir, arranged 
for slaughtering and chilling the meat for direct shipment to 
Europe, has recently been erected. There is ample cold storage 
in the city for dairy produce, etc. 

Winnipeg is the political as well as the commercial centre ot 
Western Canada. The Legislative and the Departmental buildings 
of the Manitoba Government, and the chief immigration lands and 
timber offices of the Dominion Government for the west are located 
here. The Canadian Pacific Railway Co. has its chief offices in the 
west in Winnipeg, and also the head offices of its land department, 
where full information regarding the company's land can be obtained. 
The school system in this city is unsurpassed anywhere, besides the 
elementary schools, there being a Collegiate Institute, Normal School, 
four Colleges, and Provincial University, with several Business Col- 
leges, Deaf and Dumb Institute, etc. Winnipeg has hospitals for the 
care of the sick and wounded, and no other city of its size has a 
greater number of churches. All the national and fraternal lodges 
are strongly organized here. Winnipeg is a well built city, with 
a number of very fine public buildings and handsome residences, 
and possesses several public parks. 

On the east side of Red River is St. Boniface, where is located the 
Roman Catholic Cathedral and college, the Archbishop's palace, 
hosnital, etc. 

The most important towns in the province outside of Winnipeg, 
on the main line of the Canadian Pacific Ry., are Portage la Prairie, 
56 miles west, with a population of 4,500, and Brandon, 133 miles 
west, with a population of 5,800. These are progressive centres for 
a considerable area of fine farming country, each being a railroad 
junction point, and being well supplied with stores, manufactories, 
elevators, etc. La Salle, Morris. Rosenfeldt, Plum Coulee, Winkler, 
Morden, Manitou, La Riviere. Snowfiake, Pilot Mound, Crystal City, 
Clearwater, Mather, Cartwright, Holmfield, Thornhill, Darlingford, 



MANITOBA settlers' TESTIMONY. 28 

Killarney, Ninga, Boissevain, Whitewater, Deloraine, Medora, 
Napinka, Carman, Rothwell, Treherne, Holland, Cypress River, Glen- 
boro, Metliven, Nesbitt, Carroll, Souris, Hartney, Lauder, Melita, Elva, 
Pierson, Wawanesa, Belmont, Baldur, Marieopolis, Somerset, Miami, 
Rosebank, Holland, Myrtle, Dominion City, Emerson, Gretna, and 
others are market towns for the business of Southern and South- 
western Manitoba; and McGregor, Austin, Sidney, Carberry, Doug- 
las, Alexander, Griswold, Oak Lake, Virden and Elkhorn are large 
wheat markets in the centre and west on the main line of the C.P.R., 
and Whitemouth is a village also on the main line east of Winnipeg, 
from which a railway has been constructed to the extensive brick- 
yards at Lac du Bennett. In the northwestern part of the province 
are the towns of Westbourne, Gladstone, Arden, Neepawa, Minne- 
dosa. Rapid City, Hamiota, Newdale, Strathclair, Shoal Lake, Birtle, 
Russell, Binscarth, Ochre River, Plumas, Dauphin, Winnipegosis, 
Swan River and Grand View, in the newly opened Lake Dauphin 
district, now connected by railway with Winnipeg, and north of 
Winnipeg are Selkirk, Stonewall, Teulon, and the Icelandic village of 
Gimli on Lake Winnipeg. 



Settlers' Testimony 

The following are a few of the many letters which have been 
received from successful settlers, some of whom commenced in 
Manitoba with little or no capital: — 

Trbhbrnb, April, 1900. 

In looking back over the twelve snort years since I first settled 
in Manitoba with my wife and family, I gladly give my experience 
for the benefit of the intending settler. 

I came to Manitoba in March, 1888, from Diirham County, On- 
tario, and settled at Treherne on a scrub farm of 320 acres. I 
leased it for a term of five years, the only charge thereon being the 
payment of taxes, as the land had to be improved. I brought up a 
car load of effects, consisting of three horses, two cows, seeder, 
mower, rake, harrows, wagon, etc., being indebted to my friends in 
the East for the use of same until I had made money enough in 
this country to repay loan, which I soon did, with interest. 

In a few years I leased another 320 acres adjoining, on the same 
terms and with the usual success; and again, later, I leased an addi- 
tional 320 acres, and success still crowned my efforts. Lastly (the 
land in the vicinity of my farm being all taken up and cultivated), 
I looked around to increase my operations, and could only get an- 
other 80 acres. All the above being uncultivated land, I had to break 
it and bring it under cultivation, and now have under lease here 
altogether 1,040 acres, of which 800 acres are under crop. 

In the summer of 1898 I drove to Swan River Valley, and pur- 
chased 2,400 acres of choice land, with the intention of extending 
my farming operations on a larger scale in the future. Any intend- 
ing settler coming to this country can get land in free homesteads, or 



24 



MANITOBA SETTLERS TESTIMONY. 



any railway land. They can also get land to lease, or Improved land 
on shares; and if the first year or two they meet with reverses — not 
having experience— let them not be discouraged, but continue, with 
their sleeves rolled up, and soon their efforts will be rewarded. In a 
few years they will be independent, and bless the day they settle... 
in Manitoba. 

For grain growing this country cannot be excelled, the soil being 
first class, and possessing all the necessary qualities required to pro- 
duce wheat of the finest grade, sometimes weighing 64 lbs. per bushel, 
the highest quality produced in the world, and producing all the way 
from 20 to 60 bushels per acre. Oats and barley also grow immense 
crops, and to perfection. Stock also does well, and grows fat through 
the summer. Vegetables — such as cabbage, onions, beet, cauliflower, 
radish, melons, citrons, squashes, beans, and cucumbers, give an 
abundant crop, and tomatoes do well also, but do not ripen on the 
bushes every year. Rhubarb grows to immense proportions; and tur- 




FAliiM UF A. J. COTTON, TK1.HERNE, MAN. 

nips, carrots, and mangels do well. Small fruits— such as straw- 
berries, gooseberries, saskatoons, cranberries, and cherries, grow 
wild in abundance; and tame fruits, such as red, white, and black 
currants, all kinds of raspberries, strawberries, and gooseberries, 
grow to perfection in gardens. Potatoes grow a heavy crop and 
floury. 

The climate is healthy and vigorous, and pleasant in summer, with 
cool nights. 

Labourers and farmers who are industrious will do well here, and 
can start with a very small capital, which can be invested to good 
advantage in farming, and they will soon be on the road to prosperity. 

There is vacant land in plenty, including railroad land sold on 
the ten-year instalment principle, which is very easy terms. There 
are homesteads and villages in plenty in districts just being opened 
up, which have the advantage of schools, churches, stores, and, In 
fact, every requisite which the settler requires, including first-class 
land growing the finest crops, free land, and cheap land. No other 



MANITOBA — settlers' TESTIMONY. 



25 



country can offer such inducements to the intending settler, and any- 
one wishing to get on should not hesitate to make full enquiries as 
to which locality they would like to settle in, or come and look over 
the land and see for themselves. 

Any intending settler thinking of buying land can get full inform- 
ation from C.P.R. Land Commissioner, or from the Commissioner of 
Immigration, Winnireg, Manitoba. 

The annexed table, showing acreage of wheat, average yield of all 
grain, date of sowing, harvesting and length of season, will give the 
actual experience of one who came out to Manitoba with a moderate 
capital, and started farming on a small scale. Any man willing and 
able to work can do the same. 

As will be S'^en, the lowest average I had of wheat was in 1896, 
being 14% bushels per acre; it was a very late spring, and an ex- 
cessive rainfall was the cause. I grew wheat which averaged as high 
as 55 bushels to the acre for 25 acres, but the following table shows 
the average for each year. 

The first yield of barley was put in on spring breaking, and was 
a very good crop considering. The first spring I did not have my 
land ready for wheat, but have given the date my neighbour began 
to sow his wheat. 

This is a true record I have kept, and shows how a settler with 
limited capital can begin farming on a small scale and increase his 
acreage. At the present time I have 23 head of horses— 20 of them 
working, 27 head of cattle, 13 ploughs, 7 wagons, 5 binders, 7 sets 
of harrows, and other implements to the value of $6,000 (all paid for), 
as well as 2,400 acres of land in the Swan River Valley, money out 
at interest on farm property, town property, etc., and a trifle in the 
bank, leaving us quite comfortable, happy, and contented with the 
country. A. J. Cotton. 




MOOSEJAW STATION AND GRAIN ELEVATORS 



26 



MANITOBA — settlers' TESTIMONY. 



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MANITOBA settlers' TESTIMONY. 27 



Glendale, September, 1900. 

I know a number of farmers in this locality who a short time 
ago were working for $20.00 a month, and whose farms could not 
now be bought out for less than $3,000 or $4,000. These people 
started without any capital and with only their industry and energy 
to depend upon. There is no reason why any man who is a clever 
mechanic cannot turn his abilities advantageously to farming in this 
country, gnd if he did he would find that instead of barely making 
ends meet as many a mechanic does in cities and towns he would 
have a nice surplus at the end of the year. 

Geo. Metcalfe. 



Crystal City, Sept., 1900. 

The writer came to Manitoba from Ontario in the autumn of 1878, 
and has ever since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. From 
the day, nearly twenty-two years ago, when he selected his home- 
stead, he has had unbounded faith in the country as a place where 
farming can be successfully carried on, if pursued upon proper lines. 
There is a large number in this Province who should rather be called 
" wheat-growers " than farmers. On account of the facilities, natural 
advantages, and therefore cheapness with which wheat can be grown, 
no doubt many have done exceedingly well by raising wheat only; 
still. It is far from ideal farming. Not only will such a course, if per- 
sisted in, have the effect of causing the land to run out, as has been 
the experience of those who pursued the same plan in the wheat-pro- 
ducing prairie State? to the south of us, but It is far from being the 
most profitable course to adopt. 

The writer knows of no country that offers advantages so great 
to the agriculturist as does Manitoba. The various branches of farm- 
ing can be carried on successfully, as twenty-two years of practical 
operations and observations of vhat others are doing have proven. 
To those desiring to make new homes for themselves, the low price of 
some of the best lands in the world (although rapidly advancing in 
price this year) offer still great opportunities. To all such the in- 
vitation is cordially given to " Come and see." At no time can this 
be done better than in July, when visitors to the Province can attend 
the exhibition in Winnipeg, which is one of the best educators afford- 
ed to give an idea of the possibilities, progress and success of the 
farming community in Manitoba. The permanency and success of 
this exhibition arc directly dependent upon the prosperity of the 
farmers of Manitoba. Here, In the course of a few days, visitors 
may see for themselves evidences of our prosperity In the thousands 
of Intelligent, well-dressed men and women present with their exhibits 
of grain, live stock of all kinds, and dairy products— people who come 
to this region, perhaps, with little more than health, strength and 
energy, yet who have found In the soil and grasses of the Province 
a measure of wealth that could scarcely be attained in any other part 
of America. There need be no poor people here. There is land for all 
who choose to come, land upon which happy homes can be estab- 
lished, and from which ample resources can Fe gathered against old 
age. All that a man needs to achieve competence in this domain Is 
common-sense and Industry. With tEese qualifications he Is bound 
to succeed. 

Thos. Grbbnwat. 



28 MANITOBA — SETTLERS' TESTIMONY. 

BlRTLE, 20th Oct., 1900. 

I came to Manitoba from Co. Westmoreland, England, thirteen 
years ago with wife and eight children, came to this part and started 
with thirty dollars (£6), took a homestead and have been farming 
steadily now for some years. I now own (between myself and two 
boys) 640 acres, with 220 acres under cultivation, a good house and 
other buildings, and a full supply of machinery; I would not take less 
than $5,000 for my farm. I have nearly $1,000 worth of machinery 
^I am only owing a few hundreds of dollars on my place. We have 
this year eighteen good stacks of grain awaiting threshing. We have 
eleven horses and seventy-five head of cattle, besides pigs', fowls, etc. 

I have never regretted coming here. We enjoy good health and 
have to-day a good comfortable home, far different and better than I 
ever had before. We have a school convenient. We send our cream 
to the creamery and have realized over $300 therefrom in the last five 
months. We have worked hard for this, but I believe can show better 
returns than the same work would give to a farmer in any other 
country than this. The small farmer and tenant farmer in England 
can better himself by coming here if he is willing to work. 

Robert Newsham. 



Jf*\ > ^>Y . 




OAT FIELD OF AUGUST FERDBERG, WETASKIWIN, ALBERTA 



ASSINIBOIA — RANCHING AND WHEAT GROWING. 29 



ASSINIBOIA 



The district of Assiniboia lies between the Province of Manitoba 
and the District of Alberta, and south of the District of Saskatchewan, 
and extends north from the International boundary to the 52nd 
parallel of latitude, containing an area of thirty-four million acres. 
Travelling westward on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the 
district is entered at a point 212 miles west of Winnipeg. It is divid- 
ed into two great areas— Eastern and Western Assiniboia— each of 
which has its own peculiar characteristics, the former being essen- 
tially a wheat growing and mixed farming country, and the western 
part of the latter especially adapted for ranching. In both divisions, 
minerals are found, and on the bars of the south branch of the 
Saskatchewan River in Western Assiniboia gold has been found in 
fairly large quantities. 

Eastern Assiniboia 

Eastern Asainiboia is known as the Park country of the Canadian 
Northwest. The general aspect of the country, largely resembling 
Manitoba, is rolling prairie, dotted over with clumps of trees usually 
found bordering lakes, streams and meadows; in the hollows grow the 
heavy luxuriant grasses where the farmer obtains his supply of v.in- 
ter hay. The principal grains grown are wheat and oats. The 
ordinary yield of wheat is from 20 to 30 bushels to the acre. All 
kinds of roots, too, are a sure crop. The soil is so rich that no 
fertilizers are necessai-y, so that in this direction a large amount of 
time and money is saved. Nowhere can farming be done more easily, 
and nowhere can the frugal, earnest and industrious man start on a 
smaller capital. Coal in abundance is found in the South, in the 
district drained by the S'ouris River, and there is direct rail con- 
nection northwest with the main line of the C P. R. and eastwardly 
to points in Manitoba. 

This district, including the Province of Manitoba, is gradually 
becoming one of the greatest wheat producing sections of the 
American continent, for the following reasons: 1. It has a soil 
particularly rich in the food of the wheat plant. 2. A climate under 
which the plant comes to maturity with great rapidity. 3. On account 
of its northern latitude it receives more sunshine during the period 
of growth than the country to the south. 4. Absence of rust due to 
dryness of climate. 5. Absence of insect foes. 6. Absence of noxious 
weeds. These conditions are especially favorable to the growth of 
the hard flinty wheal of the Scotch Fyfe variety, that is so highly 



30 ASSINIBOIA — RANCHING AND WHEAT GROWING. 

prized by millers all the world over, giving it a value of from 10c. to 
25c. a bushel over the softer varieties grrown in Europe and the older 
parts of Canada. 

For agricultural purposes the districts of Moosomin, Qu'Appelle 
and Moose Mountain are wonderfully favored, lying as they do in the 
great stretch of the fertile belt. The Moosomin District is included 
in the country between the Manitoba boundary on the east, on the 
north by the lovely valley of the Qu'Appelle River, on the south bj'^ 
the Pipestone Creek, a perfect paradise for cattle, and the 2nd meri- 
dian on the west. The Qu'Appelle District is that section which lies 
immediately west of the Moosomin to the height of land at McLean 
Station on the C. P. R., round to the Beaver Hills and south almost 
to the international boundary line. Included in this area are the 
Pheasant Plains, no less fertile than the famous Portage Plains of 
Manitoba, where crops are phenomenally large. The subsoil is gener- 
ally sandy clay, covered with about 12 to 18 inches of black vegetable 
mould, which after the second ploughing makes a fine seed bod, easy 
to work, and of the most productive nature. Generally speaking these 
remarks apply to all the eastern part of the district. The Beaver 
Hills and the Touchwood Hills in the northern part are especially well 
adapted for stock raising. The stretch of country in the southeastern 
portion of the district, between the international boundary and Moose 
Mountain, extending west beyond the Soo-Paciflc branch of the 
Canadian Pacific Railway is attracting a large number of settlers. 
Here there are about forty townships that are practically unsettled, 
and are available for homestead entry. Some of this area is rolling 
prairie, suitable for mixed farming, and other is unexcelled wheat 
land. Water is plentiful at a depth of from 10 feet to 20 feet, and 
timber is abundant in the Moose Mountains, coal also being easily 
and cheaply obtainable at the Souris coal fields. Those who have 
settled there have erected substantial buildings; have plenty of stock, 
and many of them have good bank accounts. There has never been a 
sheriff's or bailiff's sale in this part of Eastern Assiniboia. Between 
500 and 600 farmers located in this section in 1899, and there is room 
for 5,000 more homesteaders, while railway lands are cheap and 
plentiful. The extension of the Pipestone branch of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway to Moose Mountain renders readily accessible this 
large and desirable territory. 

Eastern Assiniboia offers an opening to the poor man if he will 
work and exercise economy, for after a year or two of hard work 
he finds himself in possession of a home, all his own, free from the 
harrassing conditions of a rented or mortgaged farm. 



ASSINIBOIA — RANCHING AND WHEAT GROWING. 31 

Western Assiniboia 

The eastern part of this section is similar to that of Eastern 
Assiniboia,. and is favorable for mixed farming. With Regina and 
Moose Jaw as their centres, are two large areas, 50 by 90 miles, 
admirably suited for grain, stock and dairying. From Swift Cur- 
rent Creek, the region is fully equal to the Bow River District in 
Alberta as a stock country. It is everywhere thickly covered with 
a good growth of nutritious grasses— the grass is usually the short 
crisp variety, known as " Buffalo Grass," which becomes to, all appear- 
ances dry about mid-summer, but is still green and growing at the 
roots and forms excellent pasture both in winter and summer. It is 
amazing the rapidity with which poor emaciated animals brought 
from the east get sleek and fat on the Buffalo gi'ass of the plains. 
The supply of timber on the hills is considerable. There is also an 
abundance of fuel of a different kind in the coal seams that are ex- 
posed in many of the valleys. Settlers in this section of the Railway 
Company's lands have thus an abundant supply of timber suitable for 
house logs and fencing, and both coal and wood for fuel. About 
Maple Creek irrigation works are being actively prosecuted with most 
beneficial results. 

The Cypress Hills which may be dimly seen in the south from the 
railway are especially adapted for stock raising, and as the country 
is too rough and broken to make general farming on an extensive 
scale a certainty, the grass land that nature has so bountifully pro- 
vided will not likely be disturbed by the plow, thus giving to the 
farmer on the plains adjoining never-failing hay meadows and un- 
limited pasture ground for his stock. The snowfall is light, the 
climate Is tempered by the Chinook winds, and water and shelter are 
everywhere abundant. 

Western Assiniboia is the great sheep raising district of the 
Northwest Territories. Out of a total sheep stock of 236,000 in 1899, 
184,000 were ranged in this portion of the Territories. It would be 
difficult to conceive of a more favourable district for this branch of 
stock raising. The winters are mild enough to admit of sheep ranging 
out all the year round, and the herbage is the peculiar short, crisp 
growth so much relished by those animals. Flocks are usually divid- 
ed iip in lots of 2,000 to 2,500, each in charge of a single shepherd 
assisted by his two dogs. Experienced men are much sought after 
on the sheep ranches. 

Great herds of range cattle roam at will all over these seemingly 
boundless pastures. The profits of the stockmen are large, as can 
be readily imagined when it is shown that $35 to $45 per head is paid 
for three and four-year-old steers on these ranges, animals that cost 
their owners only the interest on the original investment incurred in 
stocking the ranch, and their share in the cost of the annual round- 



ASSINIBOIA — RANCHING AND WHEAT GROWING. 83 



ups. Parties In search of land for stock-raising are advised to 
examine the country soulTiwest of Swift Current Station, along the 
Swift Current Creek, south and west of Gull Lake, south of Maple 
Creek, the Valley of Mackay Creek that flows north from the hills 
and south of Irvine and Dunmore. 

Ranching 

An experienced ranchman furnishes the following, as an instance 
of how a man with a small stock of capital, and enterprise, energy 
and discretion can make a first-rate start and in time a comfortable 
home and competency for himself, granted that he has flOO (or $500) 
in his pocket when he aiTives: " Let him first find a rancher who will 
give him annual employment at a wage of about $10 or $15 per month 
with board and lodging. After a year's experience this wage will be 
increased by $5 per month. Having found this let him take his $500 
and invest it in yearling steers at $16 per head, brand them and turn 
them out on the range with his employer's cattle; this he will have 
but little difficulty in obtaining permission to do. In two years time 
these will have become three-year-olds and will realize from $31 to $37 
per head, therby doubling the money invested in them. Daring the 
two years he has been working he has earned $360, of which we will 
allow that for incidental expenses he has spent $110. He has there- 
fore, supposing him to have sold his steers at $35 per head, which is 
considerably below the average price, $1,410. With half this let him 
buy two-year-old steers at $22 per head, and with the remainder 
yearlings, giving 22 of the former, and 41 of the latter. Then let him 
work for one more year, and with the money earned build houses, 
sheds, stables, etc., so that by the end of the third year he will be in 
a position to start for him^^-lf, by which time he will have 22 three- 
year-olds which will realiz-e $770, plus 41 two-year-olds, which will 
be ready for the market the year following, and will realize $1,455. 
So by judicious management he can have an ever-increasing bunch of 
cattle ready for the market. Remember that no man can do this 
without paying strict attention to business, or without looking well 
after the cattle. Many men fail solely because they neglect to take 
proper precautions and make proper preparations for a hard winter. 
In time a man can commence breeding, but my advice to beginners 
is ' buy nothing but steers.' Firstly, because they are marketable; 
secondly, because they are less likely to suifer from hardships of 
winter than cows. 

" In the course of my travels I have seen several men start upon 
the principle I have outlined and meet wiih success beyond their 
most sanguine hopes. I may add that the ranches in this couutry 
are built almost entirely of logs, which are cut and hauled direct 
from the bush, and first-rate buildings they make. Among the 



34 • ASSINIBOIA — TOWNS. 



half-breeds are many flrst-class woodsmen who will cut, haul and 
build the logs at a very moderate figure. There are 'ocations to be 
had where hay and water are plentiful, and the winters usually fairly 
mild. Land is given to a settler as in Manitoba, viz., 160 acres per 
man. In the foregoing article I have quoted selling prices below the 
average and buying prices above it; the difference would equalize any 
ordinary losses." 

Dairying 

The latest approved system of Government supervision and man- 
agement, on the co-operative plan, is in vogue in connection with all 
the dairies in the Territories. The Government appoints the local 
managers and takes entire charge of marketing the product for the 
patrons. An advance of ten cents per pound on the estimated cream 
equivalent, supplied by each patron, is made monthly, and the balance 
is paid them at the end of the season. The output of government 
creameries in the Territories was 474,008 lbs. of butter for 1897, 485,000 
for 1898, and 502,000 for the year 1900. 

Both Eastern and Western Assiniboia are especially well adapted 
for dairying, and the industry has been making great strides during 
the past few years. Creameries have been established in different 
parts of the district, and are now in successful operation at Regina, 
Moose Jaw, Maple Creek, Indian Head, Wolseley, Moosomln, 
Qu'Appelle, Grenfell, Whitewood. Churcli bridge, Saltcoats and York- 
ton. They are yearly doing a largely increasing business, and are a 
profitable source of cash revenue lo the settlers in their vicinity, 
British Columbia being an excellent market for the output. The na- 
tural inducements for the establishment of creameries are very great. 
There are nutritious grasses, and large ranges for stock, with a 
plentiful and pure water supply, and the climate is most favorable. 

Towns in Assiniboia 

The principal town of Assiniboia is Regina, the capital of the 
Northwest Territories. This is a railway centre an'd an active busi- 
ness place. The Legislature meets at Regina, and it is the head- 
quarters of tl;e Mounted Police, and other public offices. It has a 
population of over 2,200. A branch line runs north through the 
Qu'Appelle District, and on to Prince Albert, on the north branch of 
the Saskatchewan. Moosomin, Broadview, Grenfell, Wolseley, Sinta- 
luta, Whitewood, Indian Head and Qu'Appelle are other towns in the 
eastern district, and Fort Qu'Appelle is beautifully situated in the 
valley of Qu'Appelle, 18 miles north of the railway— Yorkton and Salt- 
coats being the centre of siettlements in the northeastern part of East 
Assiniboia, and Gainsboro, Carievale, Carnduff, Oxbow, Alameda and 



ASSINIBOIA — settlers' TESTIMONY. 36 

Estevan (at the Souris coal fields) in the southeastern part, and 
Manor, Carlyle and Clare on the Pipestone Branch, near Moose 
Mountain. Moose Jaw, with a population of 2,200, is another town 
4^ miles west of Regina, at the junction of the C. P. R. and the Soo 
line, running to St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Sault Ste. Marie, where 
connection is again made with the Canadian Pacific Railway system. 
On the Soo Line are the promising towns of Weyburn and Yellow 
Grass. Lumsden, on the Prince Albert branch of the C. P. R., has 
four grain elevators. Maple Creek is a thriving place, and Medicine 
Hat, on the south branch of the Saskatchewan, is the chief town of 
Western Assiniboia, where there are openings for enterprising men 
to utilize the natural gas for manufacturing, and to develop the pipe 
and fire clay deposits and native sandstone quarries. Dunmore is the 
junction of the Crow's Nest Pass Railway, which runs westerly past 
the extensive coal mines at Lethbridge to a point in the West 
Kootenay mining country through t'le Crow's Nest Pass and East 
Kootenay, opening up a vast country rich in minerals, which furnishes 
a good cash market for the products of the farms and ranches of 
Western Canada. The road to Lethbridge has been in operation for 
several years, and the whole line is completed to Kootenay Lake, 
where steamer connection is for the present made with the Canadian 
Pacific Railway system in Southern British Columbia. By the use of 
car ferries, freight for these mining regions reaches its destination 
without breaking bulk. 



Settlers' Testimony 

Regina. Sept. 6, 1900. 

My brother and myself arrived here in 1882 from Ontario with 
only enough capital to purchase teams and make a start on our home- 
steads. Shortly after another brother joined us, and since then we 
have been farming continuously in the Regina District. At the t)re- 
sent time we have about 4,000 acres of land, 1,100 of which are under 
cultivation. We also have about 60 head of heavy horses and about 
200 head of cattle. We generally keep from 20 to 100 hogs. This pro- 
perty we have clear of any encumbrance whatever and have accumu- 
lated the same solely as a result of our farming operations. 

While I would not advise people of mature years to break up an 
old home and sever life long associations, except in the case of persons 
wishing to place their children in better position to make their lives a 
success, still I do think for the young man who is not afraid of hard 
work and who is willing, for the sake of ultimate success, to meet the 
difficulties of pioneer life, that the Northwest, from an agricultural 
standpoint, is a most inviting field. G. W. Brown. 



Canninigton Manor, Nov., 1899. 
I came from Belfast, Ireland, and settled here In 1883, having to 
start with $300.00 in cash, a yoke of oxen, wagon and plow. Bought a 
cow in 1883 and another the following year. I have now (Nov. 1899) 
70 head of cattle, 60 sheep and 10 horses, 320 acres of land, of which 
125 acres are under cultivation. My wheat yield has been from 15 to 
20 bushels per acre. I have a good log house and stabling for every 
beast. This country is far ahead of Ontario and the Old Country. I 
would not live in the Old Country if I was paid for it. This is just 
the country for a poor man to start in. 

Robert Montooms»t. 



86 ASSINIBOIA — DBI<EaATBS' BBPOBTS. 

Fort Qu'Appelle, January, 1900. 

I am a Scotchman, worked on a farm in Scotland, and came to 
the Northwest in 1880. I was married, aged twenty-two, when I 
arrived having no money but owing £10. To begin with I worked on 
the Canadian Pacific Railway at Winnipeg, and then lived on a I'a^m 
with my wife for two years. Afterwards 1 came to Fort Qu Appelie 
with only enough money to pay entry on homestead. We worked on 
a farm for one year and on my homestead, bought a yoke of oxen, 
and pui in five acres in crop. 

The second year we broke some land, and bought a cow or two, 
and worked .steadily on till about 1890. I had 2,000 bushels of wheat 
besides other crops, got a good start; after that had more acreage 
and took up a second homestead till 1895, and I bought more land 
and I now have 720 acres of land (250 of which is cropped), five 
teams of good horses, besides colts, thirty-five head of well-bred milk 
cows and cattle, all raised by myself, and house, stables, outbuildings, 
pigs, poultry, etc. I can now generally reckon on about VOOO 
bushels of wheat, besides oats, etc., etc. As regards dairying, I have 
had considerable success, making far more profit than I could in the 
old country. We never churn less than about 100 lb. of butter per 
month throughout the summer season, and have always found a 
good market locally, using separator milk for the calves, and have 
always some stock to sell each summer. Now I have young colts 
growing up which I can sell to advantage at my own door. I like 
the country well, for I make money in it, as you see, for I would not 
take now for all I possess less than $10,000 or $12,030 (£2,000 to 
£2,400), which is all clear money, besides what I have spent in the 
country. The climate suits us well, and though the winters are 
cold, this Is no drawback. The children and ourselves go out every 
day— in fact, they go to school, having to drive three miles every day. 

I can strongly recommend this locality to old country people who 
are used to farming and hard work to better their position as I have 
done. 

J. Ohmiston, 



Delegates' Reports 

Patnesville. Minn., Oct. 15, 1900. 

On Sept. 8th, Mr. Briggs and myself were sent to inspect the farm- 
ing lands of Western Canadar by the farmers of Kandiyohi county, 
Minnesota, and make a selection, if we liked the country, people and 
climate. 

We purchased lands in this district, and since we have returned to 
Minnesota sold out our holdings here and return immediately to 
Western Canada, where we Intend making our permanent homes. 

Although the spring was very dry, we found very good crops, 
which were hard to harvest owing to the unusual wet autumn. The 
farmers seem to be all In a thriving condition and well pleased with 
the country. It will suffice to say that I would advise all my friends 
who are desirous of farming, and are not satisfied with their present 
locations, to go to Western Canada, where they will certainly be satis- 
fied, being, in my opinion, one of the finest farming countries in the 
world. A. E. HoTJOHTON. 



SASKATCHEWAN — ITS ADVANTAGES. 87 



SASKATCHEWAN 

The district of Saskatchewan lies immediately north of Asslniboia, 
and is the largest of the four provisional districts which were carved 
out of the territories by the Dominion Parliament in 1882. Its area 
is 106,700 square miles. It is nearly twice as large as England and 
Wales, and almost as large as England, Ireland and Scotland, and is 
capable of sustaining almost an equal population. It extends from 
Nelson River, Lake Winnipeg and the western boundary of Manitoba 
on the east, to the 112th degree of west longitude on the west, and 
lies between, or rather, slightly overlaps, the 52nd and 55th parallels 
of north latitude. The district is almost centrally divided by the main 
Saskatchewan River, and its principal branch, the South Saskatchewan, 
most of whose navigable length lies within its boundaries. It in- 
cludes in the south a small proportion of the great plains, and in its 
general superficial features may be described as a mixed prairie and 
wooded region, abounding in water and natural hay, and well suited 
by climate and soil for the raising of wheat, horned cattle and sheep. 
Settlement is at present chiefly in the Prince Albert, Rosthern, Duck 
Lake, Shell River, Batoche, Stony Creek, Carlton, Carrott River. 
Puckahn. Birch Hills, The Forks, St. Laurent, St. Louis de Langevin, 
Domremy and the Battleford Districts, in nearly all of which there is a 
great quantity of the best land open for selection free to homesteaders, 
i.e., settlors who take up land to cultivate and live upon it. In the 
Battleford District stock-raisiing is gradually becoming the predom- 
inant industry. The entire country is peopled with C-ianadians, Ameri- 
cans, Germans, Scotch, English, Russians and Old Country French. 
In every settlement there are churches and good schools. In great 
measure that which may be said of one district applies equally to the 
others. The crops consist of wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. Tur- 
nips and all kinds of vegetables are raised successfully. Normal 
yield of wheat (Red Fife), about 30 bushels to the acre in favorable 
seasons, one to 1^/^ bushels sown to the acre. Oats, from 50 to 60 
bushels, from three sown to the acre. Barley is now be;ng grown exten- 
sively, there being a demand for this cereal in the district and never 
been a total failure of crops, and settlers enjoy a steady home market, 
at which they lealize good prices for their products. The district 
is well supplied with good roads, and they are kept open winter and 
summer. Wild fruits of nearly every variety— strawberry, raspberry, 
gooseberry, blueberry, high bush cranberry, black currants, etc.— grow 
Jn profusion, and small game is plentiful. 



S8 SASKATCHEWAN — RANCHING AND DAIBYING. 

Towns 

Prince Albert, with a population of over 2,000, is the chief town of 
the territorial division. It is beautifully situated on the south bank 
of the North Saskatchewan, and is in the centre of an extensive farm- 
ing district. A branch line runs between it and Regina; it is also 
the prospective terminus of the Northwestern Branch of the Canadian 
Pacific Railway, running from Portage La Prairie, in Manitoba, and 
the Canadian Northern Road, running from the same place, is also 
being built towards it. The town was incorporated in 1886, is lighted 
by electricity, and is well supplied with stores, churches, schools, 
three sawmills, two large grist mills, with a capacity of 100 barrels 
per day each, two Ibrge breweries, newspapers, etc. It is a divisional 
centre of the Mounted Police. 

Battleford (population 600) is another well situated town on the 
delta of the Battle River, west of Prince Albert, which has a saw- 
mill, police post, Indian Industrial School, good hotels, etc. It is in 
the centre of a magnificent cattle country. 

Duck Lake, on the railway, forty miles from Prince Albert, is a 
thriving town, being the centre of a good agricultural district. It 
has a gi'ain elevator and a grist mill. 

Rosthern is a new town at which two grain elevators and roller 
mill have been erected. 

Hague is: the market town for a large settlement. 

Saskatoon is an older place on the line of railway, from which the 
Battleford district is reached. 

Stock-Raising, Ranching, etc 

The country is remarkably well adapted for stock-raising, and 
large shipments are made annually in gradually increasing numbers. 
In fact the better it becomes known the more its fitness for that pur- 
pose becomes apparent. Immense tracts of hay land are not only to 
be found south of the Saskatchewan, capable of sustaining countless 
herds, but on the north side there are areas of rich pasturage. Fresh 
water is everywhere abundant, and the country being more or less 
wooded, protection is afforded to the cattle, which, however, must be 
fed, and should be sheltered three months to four months every 
winter. For bandb of from 300 to 500 it is unsurpassed. Horses win- 
ter out well, and can therefore be kept in la^rge bands. Sheep, of 
which there are large shipments made, require the same care as cattle, 
and are better in small flocks. 

Dairy Farming* 

Any portion of this district will answer all the requirements for 
dairy farming. In and on the slopes of the Eagle Hills, or south of 



SASKATCHEWAN — SETTLEES' TESTIMONY. 8t> 

the Saskatchewan would be most suitable, owing to the luxuriance of 
the grass and prevalence of springs. North of the Saskatchewan 
there is abundance of grass in many places, particularly in the 
vicinity of Jackfish Lake and Turtle Mountain. In the former district 
an extensive f.reamf.ry has been established which makes large ship- 
ments to British Columbia, and other creameries are erected at 
Prince Albert and Saskatoon, with skimming stations at from 15 to 20 
points. An old resident of Saskatchewan, after many years' experi- 
ence, says: " Pure water is in abundance everywhere. Nights are 
cool. The home demand has always been very large, so that dairy 
products command good prices. The luxuriant feed which the virgin 
soil produces, together with the bracing climate, gives vigorous health 
to domestic animals and renders them free from all diseases of a 
serious nature. We have a vast area of the best arable and pasture 
land awaiting to be utilized by the farmers, dairymen and stockmen. 
The wild grasses of this country make a first class quality of beef and 
butter, which is apparent to anyone who may come to the country 
and test them. We also have an abundance of pure water in our 
streams, and natural springs. We have also an ample supply of the 
best building material which can be supplied cheap, and also a com- 
paratively cool climate in summer, so that we have exceptional ad- 
vantages for making the best butter. The dairy industry, properly 
managed, will bring a great deal of money into the country. With so 
many natural advantages all that we require is an earnest effort and 
skilful men to teach us and there is no reason why the products of 
Saskatchewan District could not compete with any country in the 
markets of the world." 

Fisheries 

The fishing industry is largely carried on in, Montreal and Candle 
Lakes, north of Prince Albert, and there are any number of smaller 
lakes and streams in which fish abound, principally white-fish and 
pike, and sturgeon is plentiful in the Saskatchewan. 



Settlers' Testimony 

Melfort, Sask., N. W. T., Oct. 29th, 1900. 

I have been settled in this District for the last 17 years, and in 
looking over my journals I find that the crop record stands 13 good 
crops, 2 frosted, 1 failure, the latter owing to a violent storm in 1899, 
the first of its kind I have seen in ^he Northwest Territories. 

This District, part of the Carrot River Valley, has remained com- 
paratively undeveloped, the nearest railway point being Prince Albert, 



40 SASKATCHEWAN — SETTLERS' TBSTIMOKT. 

some 75 miles N. W.; now, however, there are two railroads building 
towards it. 

The country generally is park like; open prairie with bluffs; 
ruuniug creeks are common, water can be had anywhere by digging 
from 12 to 40 feet 

I have resided in the Northwest since 1872, and travelled over a 
great deal of it; this I consider one of its finest parts, land of the 
very choicest quality, plenty of wood and timber, a good deal of wild 
hay can be had in the siettled Districts, and good ranches can be 
found further out. 

Railway lands can be purchased for $3.00 an acre on easy terms. 
Resident farmers have purchased largely this season, which is a good 
index of value. 

With the arrival of the railway next season, towns will rapidly 
spring up, and the early settlers will reap the advantage. 

Reginald B^evattt. 



Macdowall, Station, Willoughbt, 8th October, 1900 

The land in this locality is fine for grain having from 6 to 8 feet 
of clay on a sand bottom, with a foot or so of top soil, which is, I may 
call it, a clayey loam. 

The class of settlers are well-to-do farmers, Enerlish, Scotch, 
Irish, and Canadians, and nearly all go in for mixed farming, as feed 
(the best of swamp hay, and good prairie grass, with the wild pea 
vine) is plentiful. Some have quite large bands of cattle, which are 
always in fine order. There are still a number of first-rate farms to 
be secured, varying from one mile to 10 miles from this station, be- 
longing to the C. P. R., H. B. Co., Government, and some to private 
non-residents. 

The crop this year is splendid, and fields of 30 to 35 bushels per 
acre of the best wheat are not uncommon. 

Nearly all the farmers are men who came to the country with 
little or no means, and are now independent, and all it wants is for a 
man to work and mind his own farm to succeed. 

H. I. MOBERLY. 



RosTHERN, Sask., Nov. 15th, 1900. 

I came here in 1892 in the spring; I had 75c. when I landed In 
Rosthern, but I was owing $110.00 to ray friends who helped m? 
along to come here. I took up a homestead, being the S.E. % of Sac. 
14, Town 42, Range 3, "W. of 3rd Mer. I bought a pair of oxen on 
credit, and also an old wagon and plough, built a log house an^ 
started farming as good as I could. To-day I have 9 horses, 16 head 
of cattle, 11 pigs, 125 poultry. The machinery— I have a binder, one 
grass mower, one press-drill, 2 new waggons, 2 harrows, and all other 
necessary implements I need on the farm. I have also bought another 
quarter-section of land, and I am willing to compete with some of our 
best farmers in South Russia, where I came from. I am a German 
from South Russia, and the nationality around here are mostly all 
Germans. 

T would also recommend our people to come here, as I know when 
I left we had lots of people just as poor as I was there, and they 



SASKATCHEWAN — SETTLERS* TESTIMOHT. 41 

all could make just as good a progress as I did if they would work, 
However, there are any amount of our people in Russia who would 
come here, if they just knew exactly how things are going here, and I 
would like to see Western Canada highly recommended to them, as I 
am sure there are any amount of people who would make the hest 
Canadian farmers if they would come here. 

Abram Rbgier. 



Saskatoon, N.W.T., Oct. 15th, 1900. 

I have lived in Saskatoon and surrounding district for a period 
of 13 years, and believe it to be as good for grain raising, mixed 
farming, stock raising, etc., as any part of the Northwest Territories. 
It is bound to settle up in the near future. The sample of wheat 
raised here compares favorably with that from any part of Mani- 
toba or the Northwest Territories. There is a good opening here for 
a grist mill. Settlers are going to come even without immigration 
work, and those who come first will be the best pleased as thsy can 
get land cheap now and have a choice of location. In a few years 
land will be worth money here. 

James Leslie. 

Saskatoon, N.W.T., Oct. 1st, 1900. 

I have lived here for 11 years and like the climate. Our harvest 
is on earlier than most parts of the Northwest. The soil is rich 
and very productive. We have plenty of rainfall, and I am well 
supplied with good water from well 23 feet deep. My largest crop 
of oats was 80 bushels to the acre, lowest 20 bushels, wheat 15 to 
40 bushels. I had 5,000 bushels of grain last year, and I know by ex- 
perience that the soil and climate in this di.strict are very desirable, 
and only require to be properly known to be appreciated. We have 
good natural drainage. The river passing through this tract of land 
is quite an acquisition to it. We have wood at from 15 to 30 miles 
off, and have wood laid down at Saskatoon by rail at $2.50 to $3.00 
per cord, and plenty of coal at reasonable prices. We have a good 
market and fair shipping facilities and train service for a new 
country; also churches and schools and good stores. All that is re- 
quired here to make a grand country is more settlers to work the soil. 

David Lusk. 



42 ILBBRTA — nra NOBTHEBN GRANARY. 



ALBERTA 



Alberta is the most westerly of the several divisions of the North 
west Territories. It extends from the western limits of Assiniboia to 
the eastern limits of British Columbia, within the range of the 
Rocky Mountains, and is divided into Northern Alberta and Southern 
Alberta. They are unlike in essential particulars and are, therefore, 
occupied by different classes of settlers. The Calgary & Edmonton 
Railway, operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, passes 
through the two divisions from Macleod in the south, where it con- 
nects with the Crow's Nest Pass Railroad running Into the Kootenay 
gold mining country, to Edmonton in the north, affording market and 
shipping facilities at a number of convenient points along the whole 
distance. 

Northern Alberta 

Within the borders of Northern Alberta is a practically illimitable 
area of the most fertile land, well timbered and well watered. The 
surface of the country is gently undulating, and through the centre of 
the district the Saskatchewan River flows In a bed 200 feet below the 
level. Wood and prairie alternate irregularly. In some parts there 
are large plains free from timber and in others great areas of woods 
composed of large trees. The soil consiists of a layer of from one to 
three feet of hlack vegetable mould, with little or no mixture of sand 
or gravel, bearing a growth of wild vegetation of a luxuriance seen in 
no other part of the Territories, and indeed seldom seen anywhere out- 
side of the tropics. It is peculiar to this section of the country that 
the black mould is deeper on its knolls and ridges than in the hollows. 
With a soil of such depth and fertility, it is not wonderful that in 
ordinary good seasons a yield of oats of 100 to 114 weighed bushels to 
the acre has not been uncommon, and that less than 60 bushels is 
considered below the average, 80 to 85 bushels averaging 50 pounds 
to the bushel, being an ordinary yield; that barley will yield 60 
bushels and wheat over 40, and potatoes of from two to three pounds 
weight are not a rarity. Of course, these yields have not been attained 
every year, nor in any year by every farmer, but they have 
been attained without extraordinary exertions, and prove that the 
capacity is in the soil if the tillage is given to bring it out. Fall 
wheat has been grown in several parts of Alberta during the past 
ten years with uniformly good results, the yield in some cases being 
as high as 60 bushels to the acre. Live stock of all kinds is raised 
extensively, including horses of all grades, from heavy draught to 



ALBERTA — THE NORTHERN GRANARY. 48 

Indian ponies, horned cattle, sheep, pigs and i>oultry. Native horses 
do well without stabling all the year round, but good stock of what- 
ever kind requires good treatment to bring it to its best, when it is 
most profitable. There is a varied and nutritive pasture during a 
long season in summer; there is an abundant supply of hay procur- 
able for winter feeding, and an abundant and universally distributed 
water supply. The climate is clear, equable and healthful, which 
make it a pleasant country to live in. There are very few summer 
or winter storms, and no severe ones. Blizzards and wind storms 
are unknown. The winter climate is less severe than that of the 
districts along the Saskatchewan further east on account of the 
Chinook winds. As a consequence, a better class of cattle can be 
raised more cheaply and with less danger of loss in this district than 
in some other parts. The advantages which tell so heavily in favor 
of the district for cattle raising tell as heavily in favor of dairying. 
Native fruits — wild strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, saskatoon 
and cranberries, cherries and black currants— grow in profusion al- 
most everywhere, and tobacco is successfully cultivated. All through 
the country small game, principally mallard and teal, prairie chicken 
and partridge, is very plentiful, and deer may not infrequently be 
found. Coal of excellent quality is found throughout the whole dis- 
trict from east of Medicine Hat to the Rocky Mountains, and from 
the international boundary to north of the Saskatchewan River, being 
exposed on the cut banks of the Saskatchewan, Sturgeon, White Mud 
and other streams in abundance, and is procurable at from 60 cents to 
75 cents a load by the settler hauling it from the mine himself, and is 
delivered in the towns at from |1.50 to $2.50 per ton. Settlers can 
supply themselves by paying a fee ranging from 10c. to 20c. a ton 
in some localities. There is plenty of wood for building material 
and fuel in almost every part of the district. Gold is found in the 
bars and benches of the Saskatchewan, Macleod, Athabasca, Smoky 
and other rivers in small but paying quantities. These are known 
as the " poor man's diggings," and some settlers after seeding when 
the water is low turn miners and make from $1.50 to $4.00 per day. 
Dredging operations have been carried on with varying success 
during the past few years, and w th new specially designed ma- 
chines now under construction, it is confidently anticipated that 
even a greater reward will attend the work. 

So good is the reputation that this section of the country en- 
joys, that settlement was made at a number of points before the 
railway was complete and in 1892, when the road was in full oper- 
ation, a more regular stream of settlement began. There is, how- 
ever, such ample room for choice of locations that thousands can 
find room for selection in the free sections. This, however, will 
not continue to be the case for many years. They can be obtained 
not far distant from the railway line as far north as Leduc, but 



44 ALBKRTA — THE NORTHERN GRANARY. 

around Edmonton none are obtainable within an area of 20 or 25 
miles. Partly improved farms can be purchased near Edmonton at 
from $5 per acre upwards, and railway lands within ten miles for $3 
per acre. Bush lands are obtainable within five milesi of the town. 

Southern Alberta 

Southern Alberta, which forms the extreme southwestern corner 
of the prairie region of Western Canada, stands unrivalled among 
the stock countries of the world, and now that it has direct rail- 
way communication with the markets of Eastern Canada and of 
British Columbia, is the most desirable one for stockmen. The 
country is level, open prairie in the eastern portion, but it is much 
broken along the western side by the foothills of the Rockies. 

The true Chinook winds prevail during the fall, winter .and spring 
months. Under their magic influence the snowfall is licked up within 
a few hours, while the temperature will even more quickly rise to 
between 40 and 50 degrees above zero. Under these conditions the 
brief spells of wintry weather are alternated with more or less pro- 
tracted periods of warm, bright, spring-like weather, during which 
the ground is bare of snow, and the water is running in the streams 
and pools. During the past winter, the water in the Old Man's River 
was never completely frozen over. Blizzards are unknown. It is this 
climate which has made Southern Alberta famous as a range stock 
country, and which enables cattle and horses to live in the open air 
the year around without shelter, and dependent entirely upon the 
natural grass of the country for food. The same advantages tell 
quite as heavily in favor of dairying and mixed farming. Hay is 
readily available, so that weak and young stock can be taken up and 
fed if necessary. The true Chinook belt extends from the inter- 
national boundary line to Sheep Creek, about 150 miles, while its 
influence is felt eastward as far as Moosejaw, over 300 miles. North 
from Sheep Creek, with gradually lessening effect, it extends to the 
Red Deer River, about 130 miles further, when the clear cold climate 
of Northern Alberta takes the place of the more variable climatic 
conditions further south. The live stock industry is the chief one, 
although the conditions are fast changing from large herds to smaller 
ones which can be more easily handled and cared for. Now that this 
portion of the country has direct rail communication with the easc- 
ern and Britisli Columbia markets, an immense impetus has been 
given to the live stock business. Grass fed steers last season brought 
from $38 to $40 for three year olds, to $42 to $48 for fours, at the shfp- 
ping point. As these steers pick up their own living on the ranges, 
and are never housed or fed, the profits are very large. Large nura 
bers of young beef cattle are annually imported from the east to be 
fattened on the Southern Alberta ranges, and are again profitably 



ALBERTA — ITS CHIEF TOWNS. 45 

shipped as matured beef to European and eastern markets. Mixed 
farming is now extensively carried on in Southern Alberta, aud ib very 
profitable. With a rapidly extending system of irrigation, this and 
oLher farming operations will develop very quickly. The Canadian 
Northwest Irrigation Company has recently completed 85 miles of main 
waterway from the St. Mary's River, near the international boundary, 
to the neighborhood of Lethbridge at a cost of over $400,000, and is 
offering irrigated lands at from $8.00 to $10.00 per acre. Though a 
large portion of Southern Alberta is bare of timber for fuel, this lack 
is amply compensated for by an inexhaustible supply of coal of ex- 
cellent quality, which crops out at many points along the steep 
banks of the streams that plentifully water the country. There 
are also largely operated coal mines at Lethbridge and at Fernie, 
in British Columbia, which supply Southern Alberta with cheap 
fuel, and new mines are being opened in the mountains of South- 
western Alberta, immediately west of Macleod, on the Crow's Nest 
Pass Railway, where large towns will soon spring up. In the farthest 
southwestern corner boring for coal oil is shortly to be commenced, 
with extremely probable prospects of success. One man last year in 
about three months obtained some 800 gallons of lubricating oil by 
skimming it from the surface of pools of water, and sold it at 75 
cents per gallon. 

Chief Towns 

Calgary Is a bright and busy city of about 4,500 population, which 
is rapidly increasing. It is situated at the confluence of the Bow 
and Elbow Rivers, about 70 miles east of the Rocky Mountains. It 
is the centre of the northern ranching districts of Southern Alberta, 
and supplies many of the smaller mining towns to the west. It is 
built principally of grey sandstone, and is the junction of the Calgary 
and Edmonton branches with the main line of the Canadian Pacific 
Railway, being a divisional point, with machine shops, etc. It is an 
important station of the Mounted Police, and in a variety of ways 
does a large and increasing business. It has waterworks, electric 
light, first-class hotels, brewery, several churches and public and 
private schools, creamery, large abattoir and cold storage and ex- 
cellent stores. 

Edmonton, on the north bank of the Saskatchewan, is the market 
town for the farmers, traders, miners, etc., on the north side of tho 
Saskatchewan, and for the trade of the great Mackenzie Basin, ami 
like Calgary, is an outfitting place for those taking the inland route 
to the Peace River, and other gold-bearing streams rising in the 
Rocky Mountains. It is a prosperous town with a population of 3.000. 
is lighted by electricity and has all the modern adjuncts of thriving 
towns. Edmonton has several chartered banks, two flour mills, plan- 



46 ALBEETA — ITS CHIEF TOWNS, 

ing factory, pork packing factory, two breweries, two brick-yards, six 
churches, two hospitals, newspapers, public schools and "fevery branch 
of business, both wholesale and retail, is represented. There are 
five coal mines near the town. 

Strathcona (formerly South Edmonton), on the south bank of the 
Saskatchewan (population 1,250), and the present northern terminus 
of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway, is another rising centre where 
good hotel accommodation, stores, creamery, floiir and oatmeal mills, 
tannery, banks, four grain elevators, carriage, foundry and machine 
shops, and pump factory, etc., are established. It has several 
churches and a public school. 

Fort Saskatchewan, 20 miles east of Edmonton, is the head- 
quarters for the Mounted Police in that district, and the distribut- 
ing point for the Beaver Hills and Vermilion region. 

St. Albert, nine miles northeast ot Edmonton, is the site of the 
Roman Catholic Mission, where there are three stores, two hotels, 
blacksmith shop, etc. 

Leduc, 18 miles south of Edmonton, on Leduc Lake, is the centre 
of one of the most prosperous and well-settled farming districts of 
Alberta. It has stores, churches, two grain elevators, etc., and its 
growth during the past two years was phenomenal. 

Wetaskiwin is the busiest town between Edmonton and Calgary, 
and possesses some good stores, creamery, grain elevator, hotels, 
etc. It is the market for the Beaver Lake and Battle River set- 
tlements. 

Ponoka, between Wetaskiwin and Lacombe, is the centre of a new 
settlement which attracted a large number of settlers during the 
past year. 

Lacombe is 20 miles north of Red Deer in the centre of a rich 
and well-settled farming country, and is the market town for the 
Buffalo Lake District. It has a saw and a grist mill, grain ware- 
houses, creamery, etc. , 

Red Deer, on the river of the same name, half-way between Cal- 
gary and Edmonton, is in the centre of a fine stock country, there 
being several large ranches in the vicinity. 

Innisfail is a prettily situated and very prosperous town, 76 miles 
north of Calgary, with several stores, hotels, creamery and a grist 
mill. 

Olds is a rising town, 55 miles north of Calgary, around which 
there is a well-settled country. 

Okotoks, between Calgary and Macleod, has several stores, cream- 
ery, sawmill and planing mill. 

High River is the centre of a large cattle range, from which large 
shipments are made. 

Macleod (population 1,200), on Old Man's River, at the southern 
terminus of the Calgary & Edmonton Railway, and an important 



ALBEBTA — CATTLE AND HORSE RAISINQ. 47 

divisional point on the Crow's Nest Pass Railway line, is the chief 
centre of business and headquarters for the great ranching inuustry of 
Southern Alberta. 

Pincher Creek, in the foothills of the Rockies, 30 miles west of 
Macleod, is a thriving village of about 250 population, in the centre 
of an excellent stock country. 

Lethbridge (population 2,500), on the Crow's Nest line of the C. 
P. R. situated about thirty miles east of Macleod, is a coal mining 
town doing a good business, with large stores and several public 
buildings. With the recent construction of very extensive irriga- 
tion works to the west and south of Lethbridge, a large area of ex- 
cellent land, tributary to the town, has become available for settle- 
ment. 

Cardston, on Lee's Creek, 15 miles from the boundary, is the 
centre of a well settled and prosperous district. 

Stirling is a new town in thp southern part that is growing rapidly. 

Anthracite and Canmore are two important coal mining towns in 
the Rocky Mountains, and Banff in the Canadian National Park, 
where there are hot sulphur springs of great medicinal value, is a most 
delightful summer resort which is yearly visited by people from all 
parts of the globe. 

Cattle Raising 

There are countless herds of fat cattle on the ranges of South- 
ern Alberta, which at any season are neither fed nor sheltered; 
cattle, too, which in point of breeding, size and general condition 
are equal, if not superior to any range cattle in the world. Short- 
horns, Herefords and Polled Angus (black and red of the latter), 
are the chief breeds. There are some Holsteins and Ayrshires, but 
they are not generally used except where dairying is the main desi- 
deratum. For the small stock breeds where dairying and beef pro- 
ducing must materially go hand in hand, probably a good milking 
strain of Shorthorns will be found the most profitable. To illus- 
trate the class of oattle produced, it may be mentioned that a train 
load of four-year-old steers from the Cochrane ranch after being 
driven 140 miles and shipped by rail 2,300 miles to Montreal, weigh- 
ed at the end of the trip on the average 1,385 lbs. Four-year-olds 
and long threes have, for several years past netted the owners 
from $42 to $48 on the range; three-year-olds, $38 to $40 each; old cows 
from $24 to $28. Calves from six to eight months old are worth 
$14 to $16. During the past few years prices for all classes of cattle 
have steadily increased, and at the present time breeding herds which, 
a few years ago, were sold for from $23 to $25 per head all round, 
cannot be purchased for less than $28 to $30. Bulls for breeding 
purposes are imported chiefly from the eastern provinces of Canada 
?.nd from Great Britain. Breeding enterprises for furnishing bulls 



ALBERTA — STOCK RAISING. 49 



under the management of experienced men, would doubtless prove 
profitable ventures, and several are already being carried on, fur- 
nishing a class of stock not exceeded by many of the older estab- 
lished breeding farms of the east. 

The outlay in cattle ranging is meeting with satisfactory and en- 
couraging reward, there being ready sale at the ranches. In Northern 
Alberta this branch is but in its infancy, but is developing rapidly. 
The local market annually consumes from eighteen to twenty thou- 
sand beeves, with a growing demand, while the great market of the 
world is within easy access. The number shipped for England is 
annually increasing. 

Horse Raising 

In breeding horses, Alberta occupies a somewhat similar position 
to Canada that Kentucky does to the United States. Owing to the 
high altitude, dry and invigorating atmosphere, short and mild 
winters, and its nutritious grasses and inexhaustible supply of clear, 
cold water, it is pre-eminently adapted for breeding horses, and the 
Alberta animal has already become noted for endurance, lung 
power, and perfect freedom from hereditary and other diseases. 
There are, in Alberta, several grades of horses varying in point of 
quality from the hardy Indian pony (Cayuse), to the beautiful, well- 
formed thoroughbred. Thoroughbreds from Great Britain and Ken- 
tucky, Clydesdales from Scotland, Percherons from France and trot- 
ting stock from the United States have been imported at great ex- 
pense, and the result is that the young horse of Alberta will compare 
with any in Canada, and finds a ready market in England and Bel- 
gium. Good three-quarter bred Clydes and Shires which at maturity 
will weigh 1,400 to 1,600 lbs., have been selling at three years old 
readily for $75 to $100. Good quality of other classes bring from 
$40 to $100. During the past two years shipments of polo ponies were 
made to England with successful results. A large number of Alberta 
bred horses were last year taken to South Africa, and there on the 
rough veldt under most trying circumstances, have held their own 
with picked horses from all parts of the Empire, the United States, 
ete. 

Sheep 

For sheep, there are thousands of acres of rich grass lands, well 
watered, and adapted in every way for first-class mutton and fine 
wool, where cold rains and dust storms, so injurious to the fleeces, 
are almost unknown. There is a railway running through the cen- 
tre of the grazing lands and markets for mutton and wool are with- 
in reach. The clear, dry, bracing air of the country suits sheep. 



50 ALBERTA — STOCK RAISING. 



which suffer from little or no disease. Sheep mature early, ow- 
ing to the fine quality of the grass. To winter them safely, good, 
warm, roomy sheds, plenty of hay (10 tons to the 100 head), and 
attention is all that is wanted. The popular breeds are Shrops and 
Downs, aud in most cases they are crossed with Merinos. 

During the last ten years many hundreds of thousand cattle, sheep 
and horses have been raised in the southern half of Alberta on the 
rich grasses, without any feeding or shelter other than the shelter 
found along the hillsides or in clumps of trees on the bottom lands. 
The cattle and sheep when taken off the pasture are fat and fit for 
any butcher's shop in the world, and the horses are in capital condi- 
tion. 

Hog-s 

The favorite breeds are Berkshlres, Small Yorkshire Whites and 
Tamworths, which, if fed until they will weigh from 150 to 200 lbs. 
dressed, quoted (winter of 1900), at $4.50 to $6.00 per 100 lbs. for 
consignment to pork packing and curing establishments.. Those who 
are patrons of any creamery jcan always rear several pigs and find 
an active demand for them, and a good market— and one that is ex- 
panding greatly— is always attainable to those who have a surplus 
of coarse or inferior grains, which can best be utilized in developing 
pigs to proper weight. Hog raising can be increased indefinitely with 
great profit to the farmer as the demand is greatly in excess of the 
supply. 

Poultry 

One of the most profitable branches of farming in the Canadian 
West is the production of eggs, especially if these can be obtained 
during the winter months, when prices range from 30c. to 40c. a 
dozen. There is also a ready demand for fowls for home consump- 
tion, the supply not nearly equalling the demand. This climate 
cannot be equalled for the rearing of turkeys, the dryness and alti- 
tude being especially favorable for this profitable bird. Geese, which 
are exceedingly hardy and easy to rear, grow to a large size on the 
rich pasture without very much care or extra feeding. There are 
great possibilities for shipments, both east and west of poultry, 
raising of which has been found very profitable. 



Dairying in Alberta 

The conditions for carrying on dairying successfully are most 
favorable in Alberta, and although the industry is yet in its infancy, 
great strides have already been made in that direction. There are 



ALBERTA — ITS MARKETS. 51 

eight Government Creameries in operation, of which number four 
will be running all winter. Besides these, there is a private cream- 
ery at Bowden. Good prices are obtained for the output of but- 
ter which finds a ready market in British Columbia. The main 
creameries established by the Government, are situated at Calgary, 
Olds, Innisfail, Tindastoll, Red Deer, Wetaskiwin, Edmonton and 
Fort Saskatchewan. Besides these a number of tributary cream 
separating and receiving stations are established along the line of 
railway in such a way that they are within reach, practically, of all 
the farmers who may desire to patronize them. The main creameries 
are supplied with first-class cold storage rooms and other modern 
improvements. A regular weekly refrigerator service is furnished by 
the Canadian Pacific Railway Company which makes it practicable 
to ship perishable food products to the British Columbia markets 
in the pink of condition. The dairy industry in Alberta is carried 
on under similar conditions to those existing in Assiniboia, already 
referred to. The average prices realized for Alberta Government 
Creamery butter, during the last two years, have been over 20c. per 
pound for the summer season, and 23%c. per pound for the winter sea- 
son at the creameries. It will be seen, then, that the patrons realized 
16c. and IQi/^c. net per pound of butter during the summer and winter 
seasons res£)ectively. 

Markets 

The apparent great distance of Northern Alberta from the large 
centres of population frequently leads to the wrong impression that 
the settlers there are without markets. Nothing could be farther 
from the actual facts. Northern Alberta is the nearest agricultural 
country to the rich mining regions of both northern and southern 
British Columbia, which are rapidly developing, and with which a 
large and growing trade has already been established, which is im- 
mensely increasing yearly since the completion of the Crow's Nest 
Pass Railway; and the whole Mackenzie Basin is supplied from Ed- 
monton, which is an outfitting and supply depot for prospectors in 
the copper areas and gold-bearing streams north and west whose 
headwaters are reached from that town. The trade of this vast dis- 
trict is immense and gradually increasing, as mining and trading in 
the north expand, the fur trade alone reaching $500,000 annually. 
The establishment of flour and oatmeal mills, crearueries, etc., ensure 
an excellent market for the products of the farm. 

The ranchmen of Southern Alberta find a ready market for their 
stock practically at their very doors through buyers who supply the 
English, United States, Eastern Canadian and British Columbia mar- 
kets; and the small farmers have a home market as well as one in 
British Columbia. 



52 ALBERTA — ITS MINERALS. 



Minerals 

Alberta possesses untold wealth in her Immense mineral de- 
posits. For yeara past gold in paying quantities has been found on 
the banks and bars of the North and South Saskatchewan and in 
the Pembina, Smoky, Macleod, and Athabasca rivers. Gold colors 
are found in many streams and rivers in Alberta. Large veins of 
galena have been located which are pronounced by experts to con- 
tain a large percentage of silver. Capital alone is wanting to make 
them treasures of wealth to the country. Copper ore in enormous 
quantities has also been found said to contain 60 per cent, of pure 
copper. Iron ore has been discovered in various parts of Alberta. 
A forty-foot seam of hematite iron, said to contain 67 per cent, of 
iron, exists at the base of Storm Mountain, quite close to the Can- 
adian Pacific Railway line, and other large seams exist in the Mac- 
leod District. 

As to the quantity of the coal deposits of Alberta, it is impossible 
to form any estimate, the whole country being underlaid with rich 
deposits of anthracite, bituminous, semi-bituminous and lignite. The 
coal mines already discovered are of sufficient extent to supply Can- 
ada with fuel for centuries. Ldgnites are now mined at Medicine 
Hat, Cypress Hills, Red Deer, Otoskiwan, Edmonton, Sturgeon River 
and Victoria, and are obtained at the pit's mouth at from 65c. to 
$2.50 per ton, according to the demand— the greater the sale the lower 
the price. The semi-bituminous is mined at Lethbridge (where 
11,500,000 have been invested). Pot Hole, Milk River Ridge, Wood- 
pecker, Crowfoot and Knee Hill Creek, and is obtained at from $1.50 
to $3.00 per ton. The true bituminous is mined at Waterton River, 
Pincher Creek, on each of the South, Middle and North Branches of 
the Old Man's River, on High River, Sheep Creek, Fish Creek, 
Bow River and Canmore, and fetches similar prices to the semi- 
bituminous. Anthracite is mined at Anthracite (four miles from 
Banff), and is sold aboard cars at from $2 to $5 per ton, according 
to grade. There are extensive collieries at Lethbridge, Canmore and 
Anthracite. The Government issues permits to mine on Dominion 
lands at the following royalties: 10c. per ton for lignites, 15c. for 
bituminous, and 20c. for anthracite. 

Soft coal is so plentiful that the certainty of a cheap fuel sup- 
ply is assured to Albertans for all time to some. 



Game in Alberta 

Alberta Is an attractive country for the sportsman. Wild duck 
of all varieties, geese, prairie chicken, blue grouse, snipe, partridge, 
and other small game are usually plentiful, while in the north and 



1 ■ 

i 

i 












1 


■ -iC-f 




: . ..-■^♦' 











R. G. ROBINSON S HORSE RANC^H, ELBOW RIVER, NEAR CALGARY 




SOME OF GEO. BRYAN'S CATTLE AT INNISFAIL, ALBERTA 



54 ALBERTA — settlers' TESTIMONY. 

the mountain regions of the south, deer, moose and other large game 
are by no means uncommon. Bands of antelope are also often seen 
on the plains in the south. Trout, from the brook trout to salmon 
trout, abound in all the streams and lakes of Southern Alberta. 



Settlers' Testimony 

AaRicoiA, AiBERTA, May 15th, 1900. 

As I have been requested as a farmer of Alberta to give my opin- 
ion as to how I like the climate and the country, and also how I have 
prospered in it, I must say I am well satisfied with the country and 
climate, and also with the way I have prospered in it. 

I emigrated from Parry Sound seven years ago this coming fif- 
teenth day of April. When I landed in Edmonton, all I possessed 
was one stove, one bedstead, a wife and two small children, and the 
sum of seven dollars and fifty cents in cash. I now own 160 acres of 
land, three span of horses, ten head of cattle, eighteen hogs, two 
wagons, one set of sleighs, one binder, two plows, one set of harness, 
one hay rake. Last season I raised 1,000 bushels of wheat, 20O 
of barley, and 400 of oats, all of which were good samples. 

My opinion is that this is a good country, with plenty of good 
hay and water; school-houses, post-offices and churches about six 
miles apart, and markets about eighteen miles apart, provided with 
splendid roads. 

WrLLLA.M H. Atkinson. 



Lbduc, December 3rd, 1900. 

I came here on April the 3rd, 1898, and located a place. I had 
no means but I got along all right. I have seen the finest crops 
grown that I ever saw anywhere. I have seen oats that yielded 80, 
wheat 50, and potatoes 300 bushels per acre. I am well satisfied with 
the country, and the district of Northern Alberta. 

George Fountain. 



Beaumont. Nov. 19th. 1900. 
I left North Dakota seven years ago and settled in Alberta, took 
a homestead and bought a 0. P. R. quarter section In Township 50, 
Range 24, in the Clearwater Settlement. I am well pleased with 
this country. I came to this coimtry with no capital and very few 
settler's effects, and now I am In a comfortable position, having 
eighty acres broken and under cultivation. I have six head of 
horses, sixteen head of cattle, and all kinds of farm Implements. I 
think this country is hard to beat for mixed farming. I would 
advise any parties from other parts of the world, who are not in 
good circumstances to move to this country and secure for them- 
selves a home, as there is lots of room for hustlers. My crop this 
year yielded 3,000 bushels off 65 acres. 

J. O. Wood, Bteaumont P.O., Alberta. 



ALBERTA — DELEGATES' REPORTS. 55 

Wbtaskiwin, AX.TA., 1st Dec, 1900. 
I arrived in Wetasklwin, Alta., on November lOth. 1899, from Iowa. 
I purchased a farm, for which I paid $1,000. I put it into crop this 
year with the result that I had over 2,000 bushels of grain. I sold 
over $200 worth of hay, in other words, I made enough to pay for this 
farm the first year. Where can any settler do better? I am well satis- 
fied with the country, and believe it to be a good country for a poor 
man to start in. 

DOMINICK HaLADIK. 



Wetaskiwin, Alta., 2nd Dec, 1900. 
I came to this country from Quebec in the year 1891, and entered 
on a homestead in 1892. I have farmed ever since, and I consider it 
a good country to farm in. I have raised 40 bushels of wheat to the 
acre, over 60 bushels of barley and 60 to 70 bushels of good oats. I 
intend to stay with this country; it is good enough for me, and the 
best country under the sun for a poor man. I came in dead broke, 
and have to-day 55 head of cattle, three horses, and all farm machinery 
now, and over $1,000 in the bank. When I arrived I was just |30 in 
debt, and borrowed money to come. 

BOSfWELL ThEREAUX. 



Delegates' Reports 

I, the undersigned, a delegate from Kansas, to submit a report of a 
trip I made from Kansas to Alberta to visit that part of Western 
Canada in view of locating myself and the people I represent, take 
pleasure in stating that I am satisfied with my visit. The country is 
as represented by rhe literature and by agents. I visited all along the 
C. & E. Ry., and finally decided to settle at Carstairs, where I bought 
for myself and friends three-quarters of a section. I have no doubt 
that many other families from Kansas will follow my example after I 
have explained to them what I have seen, and will move into 
Western Canada next year. 

B. B. Bastin, Hillsdale P.O., Kansas. 



WiNNiPEO, 30th October, 1900. 

We, the undersigned, delegates from Kansas, Missouri, and Okla- 
homa Territory, have just returned from the Edmonton country. We 
are more than satisfied with what we have seen. The oat yield in this 
country is very good, averaging from 50 to 75 bushels to the acre, 
the quality excellent. The straw and grass growth is wonderful, from 
five to seven feet in length. Samples of Timothy and brome grass 
were seen the same length and the crop was very encouraging and 
heavy. The vegetable crop leaves nothing to be desired— potatoes 
yielding as high as 600 bushels to the acre, cabbage and all other 
varieties likewise. The soil is a rich black loam with clay subsoil 
varying from 3 to 7 feet in depth. We are satisfied from what we 
have ourselves seen in the country, cattle and produce, that this 
district cannot be beaten for farming. While at Dried Meat Lake, 



56 ALBERTA — delegates' REPORTS. 

east of Wetaskiwin, our host sold 25 head of three year old steers for 
one thousand dollars and besides had 170 head of cattle left. He had 
only been four y.^ars in the country and was only too evidently pros- 
pering. The weather we have experienced was a surprise to us, the 
glass registered 60 degrees above zero and ploughing was going on 
all along our line of travel. The trip which we looked forward to 
as somewhat of a hardship was very enjoyable. Game, ducks ,nd 
chickens were very numerous, we ourselves killing at least fifty 
chicken on our trip. The cattle are certainly far superior to what 
we have in Oklahoma and Kansas— three year olds here being quite 
equal to four year olds with us— all of the cattle on the prairie being 
fat enough for beef. 

Gilford Bussard, Renfrew, O. T. 

A. HoFFMAK, Andale, Sedgwick, Kansas. 

C. R. HoLBiNpE, Rhinehart, Kansas. 

C. Mbrlett, Detroit, Kansas. 

P. McFerrenv Moonlight, Kansas. 

Geo. Mourer, Abilene, Kansas. 

J. Ollhoff, Navarre, Kansas. 



Manfred, July 1st, 1900. 

I with C. C. Rygne and Emil Sjorby, left Manfred, Wills County, 
North Dakota, on the 14th of June, and reached Wetaskiwin on the 
15th in the evening. The land looked fine around Wetaskiwin, the 
grass stood high and rich and so did the fields. In the morning of 
16th June we were to go out and look up land. There were 15 of us 
who then left in one company to seek for land near to each other. We 
drove eastwards through a country that was settled, so to enable 
us to see how the fields and everything looked, and we were all 
pleaspd, and the farmers we met with were all well satisfied with their 
conditions. We only drove about 15 miles into the country the first 
day, and we stopped with a farmer in the vicinity of Battle River, 
where there was a store and post office. The next morning we 
travelled 8 miles further east, where we discovered fine homestead 
lands, mixed prairie and bush, and fine grass all over, reaching 
up to the very buggy box, and we all selected our quarter sections, 
and the next day, when we returned to Wetaskiwin, we entered for 
the lands. We also made a trio into the country near Crookel Lake, 
where we met wirh a lot of " Valarisers." and they were all doing 
nicely and well and w^ took part in meetings and church and every- 
thing went off Fmoothly. 

G. H. Dahlb, Manfred Wills Co., North Dakota. 



WESTERN CANADA — THE SURVEYS. 



57 



SYSTEM OF LAND SURVEY 



Manitoba and the Northwest Territories have now been accu- 
rately surveyed by the Dominion Government, and parcelled out into 
square and uniform lots on the following plan: The land is divided 
into " townships " six miles square. Each township contains thirty- 
six " sections " ol 640 acres, or one square mile each section, and 
these are again sub-divided into quarter sections of 160 acres. A 
road allowance, one chain wide, is provided for between each section 
running north and south, and between every alternate section east an ' 
west. 

The following is a plan of a township: 

Township Diagram 










SIX MILES SQUARE. 








k 


1 
32 


O.N^W. 


1 
34 


1 
35 


36 






C.P.K. 


Gov. 

1 


or 
C. P. R. 


Gov. 

1 


C.P.R. 

1 

1 
26 


Gov. 

1 






1 
30 


1 
29 


1 
28 


1 
27 


25 
C.N.W. 




w 
< 


Gov. 


Schools 


Gov. 
1 


C.P.R. 

1 


H.B. 

1 


or 
C P.R. 




19 


20 


21 
C.N.W. 


1 
22 


1 
23 


24 




C.P.R. 

1 


Gov. 


or 
C.P.R. 


Gov 

1 


C.P.K. 

1 


Gov. 
1 


E 




1 
18 


1? 


1 
16 


1 
15 


1 
14 


13 
C.N.W. 


X 
So 


Gov. 

1 


C P.R. 


Gov. 

1 


C.P.R 

1 


Gov. 

1 


or 
C.P.R. 

1 
12 




1 
7 


1 
8 


9 
C.N.W. 


1 
10 


1 
11 






C.P.K. 

1 


H.B. 

1 


or 
C.P.K. 


Gov. 


Schools 


Gov. 
1 






1 
6 


1 
5 


1 
4 


3 


1 
2 


1 
C.N.W. 






Gov. 


C.P.R. 


Gov. 

1 


C.P.R. 

1 


Gov. 

1 


or 
C.P.K. 





a p 

3 S' 



Government Lands, open for homestead (that is for free settle- 
ment).— Sections Nos. 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 30, 32. 34, 36. 

Canadian Pacific Railway Lands for sale.— Sections Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 
9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27. 31, 33, 35. 

Sections Nos, 1, 9, 13, 21, 25, 33, along the main line, Winnipeg to 
Moose Jaw, can be purchased from Canada Northwest Land Company. 

School Sections.— Sections Nos. 11 and 29 are reserved by govern- 
ment for school purposes. 

Hudson's Bay Company's Land for sale. —Sections Nos. 8 and 26. 



58 ♦ WESTERN CANADA — FREE HOMESTEAD REGULATIONS. 



FREE HOMESTEAD REGULATIONS 

Any even-numbered section of Dominion Lands in Manitoba or the 
Northwest Terntories, excepting 8 and 26, which have not been home- 
steaded, reserved to provide wood lots for settlers, or for other pur- 
poses, may be homesteaded upon by any person who is the sole head 
of a family, or any male over 18 years of age, to the extent of one quar- 
ter-section of 160 acres, more or less. 

Entry 

Entry may be made personally at the local land office for the Dis- 
trict in which the land to be taken is situate, or if the homesteader 
desires he may, on application to the Minister of the Interior, Ottawa, 
the Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg, or the Local Agent for 
the district in which the land is situate receive authority for some one 
to make entry for him. A fee of $10 is charged for an ordinary 
homestead entry; but for lands which have been occupied an additional 
fee of $5 or $10 is chargeable to meet cancellation or inspection and 
cancellation expenses. 

Homestead Duties 

Under the present law homestead duties must be performed in one 
of the following ways, namely: — 

(1) By at least six months' residence upon and cultivation of the 
land in each yoar during the term of three years. 

(2) If the father (or the mother, if the father is deceased) of any 
person who is eligible to make a homestead entry resides upon a farm 
in the vicinity of the land entered for by such person as a homestead, 
the requirements of the law as to residence prior to obtaining patent 
may be satisfied by such person residing with the father or mother. 

(3) If a settler has obtained a patent for his first homestead, or a 
certificate for the issue of such patent countersigned in the manner 
prescribed by the Dominion Lands Act, and has obtained entry for a 
second homestead, the requirements of this Act as to residence prior 
to obtaining patent may be satisfied by residence upon the first home- 
stead. 

(4) If the settler has his permanent residence upon farming land 
owned by him in tae vicinity of his homestead, the requirements ot 
the law as to residence may be satisfied by residence upon the said 
land. 

Application for Patent 

Should be made r.t the end of the three years', before the Local 
Agent, Sub- Agent or the Homestead Inspector. Before making appli- 
cation for patent the settler must give six months' notice in writing 
to the Commis.sionor of Dominion Lands at Ottawa of his intention to 
do so. When, for the convenience of the settler, application for patent 
is made before a Homestead Inspector, a fee of $5 is charged; no fee, 
however, being cliarged if the application be made at the land office. 
Application for patent must be made within five years from the date 
of the homestead entry, otherwise the right thereto is liable to for- 
feiture. 



WESTERN CANADA — GOVERNMENT MINERAL L \NDS. 59 



GOVERNMENT MINERAL LANDS 

Coal Lands 

If surveyed, can be purchased by one individual to the extent of 
320 acres, price $10 per acre for soft coal, $20 per acre for anthracite. 
Purchaser has to pay no royalty, nor is he compelled to work claim. 

Right to Explore for Coal 

On staking tut boundaries, run lines north and south, east and 
west, marking on each post the name of individual staking same, 
and date of such staking; then apply to Minister of the Interior, who 
will grant right upon payment of $10 to explore for 60 days on ex- 
penditure of at least $2 per day. At expiration of 60 days a further 
extension may be granted if asked for. This right to explore enables 
parties to satisfy themselves whether there is sufficient coal on the 
property to warrant a purchase. If the land is surveyed no staking is 
necessary. 

Synopsis of the Regulations for the Disposal of Quartz 

Mining" Claims on Dominion Lands in IWanitoba 

and the Northwest Territories (incluoing 

the Yukon Territory) 

Every pei-son 18 years of age and over, but not under, and every 
joint stock company holding a Free Miner's Certificate, may obtain an 
entry for a mining location. 

A Free Miner's Certificate is granted for one or more years, not 
exceeding five, and is not transferable. The annual fee for a Free 
Miner's Certificate for an individual is $10, and for a Free Miner's 
Certificate to a joint stock company, from $50 to $100, according to the 
nominal capital of the company. 

The holder of a Free Miner's Certificate who has discovered min- 
eral in place, may locate a claim not exceeding 1,500 feet long by 
1,500 feet wide, by marking it with two legal posts, one at each end, 
on the line of the lode, or vein, and marking out the line between 
them. Upon each post shall be marked the name of the claim, the 
name of the person locating and the date, and the number of feet 
lying to the right and left of the line. 

The claim ehall be recorded with the Mining Recorder of the 
District within which it is situated, within 15 days after the location 
thereof, if located within 10 miles of the office of the Recorder; one 
additional day shall be allowed for such record for every additional 
ten miles or fraction there f . In the event of a claim being more 
than 100 miles from a Recorder's office, and situated where other 
claims are being located, the Free Miners, not less than five in num- 
ber, may appoint a Free Miner's Recorder, but if the latter fails 
within three months to notify the nearest Government Mining 



60 ' WESTERN CANADA — INFORMATION FOR SETTLERS. 

Recorder of his appointment, the claims which he may have recorded 
will be cancelled. 

The fee for recording a claim is $5. 

An expenditure of not less than |100 per year must be made on 
the claim, or a like amount paid to the Mining Recorder in lieu 
thereof. When $500 has been expended or paid in connection with 
the location, the locator may, upon having a survey thereof made 
and upon complying with certain other requirements, purchase the 
land at the rate of $5 per acre cash, but if the surface rights have 
already been disposed of, at %2 an acre. 

A location for the mining of iron, mica and copper, not exceeding 
160 acres in area, may be granted, provided that should any Free 
Miner obtain a location which subsequently is found to contain a 
valuable mineral deposit other than iron, mica or copper, his right in 
such deposit shall be restricted to the area prescribed for other 
minerals, and the remainder of the location shall revert to the Crown. 

The patent for a mining location shall reserve to the Crown for- 
ever, whatever royalty may hereafter be imposed on the sales of the 
products of all mines therein, and the Bame royalty shall be collected 
on the sales' which may be made prior to the issue of the patent. 

A liberal supply of timber for house building purposes and fuel 
is granted free to settlers on payment of a small office fee for the 
permit. 

For full information as to the conditions of tender, and sale of 
timber, coal or other mineral lands, apply to the Secretary of the 
Department of the Interior, Ottawa, Ont., or to any of the Dominion 
Land Agents, Manitoba, or the Northwest Territories. 

Jambs A. Smart, 
Deputy Minister of the Interior Ottawa, Canada. 



INFORMATION FOR SETTLERS 

Newly arrived immigrants will receive at any Dominion Lands 
Office in Manitoba or the Northwest Territories information as to the 
lands that are open for entry, and from the oflficers in charge, free of 
expense, advice and assistance in securing lands to suit them; and 
full information respecting the land, timber, coal and mineral laws, 
as well as respecting Dominion Lands in the Railway belt in British 
Columbia, may be obtained on application to the Superintendent of 
Immigration, Department of the Interior, Ottawa; the Commissioner 
of Immigration, "Winnipeg, Manitoba; the Deputy Commissioner of 
Agriculture, Regina, N.W.T., or to any of the Dominion Lands Agents 
in Manitoba or the Northwest Territories. 

For disposal of the public lands by free-grant or sale, the Do- 
minion has established the following agencies, at which all the busi- 
ness In relation to lands within the district of each must be transacted: 

Government Land Offices 

(Figures are inclusive.) 
"Winnipeg District.— Includes all surveyed townships, Nos. 1 to 25, 
north; ranges— all east of 1st meridan, and ranges 1 to 8 west; also 
townships 1 to 4, ranges 9 to 14, and townships 5 to 7, ranges 9 to 12 
west. Agent, "Winnipeg. 



WESTERN CANADA — INFORMATION FOR SETTLERS. 61 

Brandon District. -Townships 1 to 4, range 15 west to 2nd meri- 
dian; townships 5 to 7, range 13 west to 2nd meridian; townships 8 to 
12, range 9 west to 2nd meridian. Agent, Brandon. 

Minnedosa District— Townships 13 and 14, ranges 9 to 22 west; 
townships 15 to 20, ranges 9 to 23 inclusive west; townships 15 to 21, 
ranges 24 to 25; townships 15 to 22, range 26; townships 15 to 24. 
range 27; townships 15 to 26, range 28; townships 17 to 26, range 29. 
Agent, Minnedosa. 

Dauphin District.— All townships lying to the north of the dis- 
trict of Minnedosa. Agent, Dauphin. 

Alameda District.— Townships 1 to 9, ranges 1 to 30 west 2nd meri- 
dian. Agent, Estevan. 

Regina District. Townships 10 to 18, ranges 1 west of 2nd to 30 
west of 3rd; townships 19 to 21, ranges 7 west of 2nd to 29 west of Srd; 
townships 22 and 23, ranges 10 west of 2nd to 29 west of 3rd; townships 
24 to 30, ranges 2 west of 2nd to 29 west of 3rd; townships 31 to 38, 
ranges 2 west of 2nd to 10 west of 3rd. Agent, Regina. 

Yorkton District— Townships north of and including township 17, 
ranges 30 to 33 west 1st meridian; townships north of and including 
township 19, ranges' 1 to 6 west of 2nd meridian; townships north of 
and including towoship 22, ranges 7 to 9 west 2nd meridian; townships 
north of and including township 24, ranges 10 to 12 west 2nd meri- 
dian; townships 24, ranges 10 to 12 west 2nd meridian; townships 24 
to 88, ranges 13 to 20 west 2nd meridian. Agent, Yorkton 

Lethbridge District.— Townships 1 to 18, ranges l to 24 west of the 
4th meridian; townships 1 to 12, range 25 west of the 4th meridian to 
B. C. Agent, Lethbridge. 

Calgary District.— Townships 19 to 30, ranges 1 to 7 west 4th meri- 
dian; townships 19 to 34, ranges 8 to 24 west 4th meridian; town- 
ships 13 to 34, range 25 west 4th meridian to B. C. Agent, Calgary. 

Red Deer Sub-District.- Townships 35 to 42, range 8 west 4th 
meridian to B. C. Agent. Red Deer. 

Edmonton District.— Townships north of and including township 
43 from range 8 west of 4th meridian to British Columbia. Agent, 
Edmonton. 

Battleford District— Tovushlps north of and including township 
31, range 11 west of 3rd meridian to 7 west of 4th meridian. Agent, 
Battleford. 

Prince Albert District.— Townships north of and including town- 
slilp 3^, range 13 west of 2nd .meridian to 10 west of 8rd meridian. 
Agent, Prince Albert. 

From time to time the boundaries of the different agencies are 
liable to alteration as the progress of settlement renders advisable. 
In every case, however, ample notice is given to the public of any 
changes made in the land districts, and in the case of colonists newly 
arriving in Manitoba, they can obtain the fullest possible Information 
in regard to all land matters by enquiring at the office of the Com- 
missioner of Immigration In Winnipeg. 

At the offices in the districts, detailed maps will be found nhow 
ing the exact homestead lands vacant. The agents are always ready 
to give every assistance and Information in their power. 

Labor registers are kept at the Government Land and Immigration 
offices and may be made use of. free of charge, by persons seeking 
emplovment as well as by farmers and others seeking help of any 
kind. 



62 WESTERN CANADA — RAILWAY LAND REGULATIONS. 



RAILWAY LAND REGULATIONS 

The Canadian Pacific Railway lands consist of the odd-numbered 
sections along the Main Line and Branches, and in the Lake Dau-phin 
District in Manitoba and the Saskatchewan, Battle and Red Deer 
River Districts in Northern Alberta. The Railway Lands are for 
s^le at the various agencies of the company in Manitoba and the 
Northwest Territories, at the following prices: 
Lands in the Province of Manitoba average $3 to $6 an acre. 
Lands in Assiniboia, east of the 3rd meridian, average $3 to $4 an 

acre. 
Lands west of the 3rd meridian, including most of the valuable lands 

in the Calgary District, $3 per acre. 
Lands in Northern Alberta, $3 per acre. 

For the convenience or investors, maps showing in detail the lands 
and pi ices have been prepared and will be sent free to applicants. 

Tepms of Payment 

The aggregate amount of principal and interest is divided into ten 
instalments; the first to be paid at the time of purchase, and the re- 
mainder annually thereafter. 

The following table shews the amount of the annual instalments 
on a quarter section of 160 acres at different prices: — 

160 acres at 33.00 per acre, 1st instalment $71.90 and nine equal instalments of $60.00 
3.50 " " 83.90 " " " 70.00 



4.00 
4.o0 
5.00 
5 50 
6.00 



95.85 
107. 85 
119.85 
131.80 
143.80 



80.00 
90.00 
100.00 
110.00 
120.00 



DISCOUNT FOR CASH.— If land is paid for In full at time of pur- 
chase a reduction from price will be allowed equal to ten per cent, 
on the amount paid in excess of the usual cash instalment. 

Interest at six per cent, will be charged on overdue instalments. 

General Conditions 

All sales are subject to the following general conditions: — 

1. All improvements' placed upon land purchased to be maintained 
thereon until final payment has been made. 

2. All taxes and assessments lawfully imposed upon the land or 
improvements to be paid by the purchaser. 

3. The Company reserves from sale, under the regulations, all 
mineral and coal lands, and lands containing timber in quantities, 
stone, slate and marble quarries, lands with water power thereon, 
and tracts for town sites and railway purposes. 

4. Mineral, coal and timber lands and quarries, and lands con- 
trolling water power, will be disposed of QU very moderate terms to 



WESTERN CANADA— RAILWAY LAND REGULATIONS. 63 

persons giving satisfactory evidence of their intention and ability to 
utilize the same. 

Liberal rates for settlers and their efects are granted by the Com- 
pany over their railway. 

Southern Manitoba and Assiniboia Lands 

The lands of the Manitoba Southwestern Railway Company are 
administered by the Land Commissioner of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way, under the same regulations as above. They consist of over 
1,000,000 acres of the choicest lands in America, well adapted for 
grain growing and mixed farming, in a belt 21 miles wide, immediately 
north of the international boundary, and from range 13 westward to 
the Missouri Coteau. 

The Manitoba South-Western landsi are subject, In addition to the 
purchase money, to the payment of a survey fee of ten cents per 
acre. 

Thriving" Towns 

The Company offer for sale at their Land Office in Winnipeg most 
desirable Town Lots in the various towns and villages along th,e 
Main Line east of Brandon, and along all branch lines in Manitoba. 

The terms for payment for these lots are:— One-third cash, balance 
in six and twelve months, with interest at eight per cent. If paid for 
in full at time of purchase, a discount of ten per cent, will be allowed. 

For further particulars apply to 

F. T. GRIFFIN, 
Land Commissioner G. P. R. Co., Winnipeg, 
or to 
W. Toole, District Agent for Alberta, Calgary. 

For the convenience of applicants, information as to prices and 
terms of purchase of railway lands may be obtained from all station 
agents along the Company's main line and branches. In no case, 
however, is a railway agent entitled to receive money in payment for 
lands. All payments must be remitted direct to the Land Commis- 
sioner at Winnipeg. 

The Canada Northwest Land Co. 

This Company own 1,750,000 acres of selected land In Manitoba 
and Assiniboia. Purchasers have the privilege of paying for tho^e 
lands in the preferred shares of the Land Company. At the present 
price of the shares some of the choicest lands in Manitoba and other 
well-settled districts can be obtained at $3 per acre. These lands are 
on sale at the various land agencies of the Canadian Pacific Railway 
Co. For maps and further information application should be made to 
the office of the Land Company at Winnipeg. 

Stop-over Privileges 

Intending settlers are given the privilege of stopping over at 
stations where they wish to inspect land. Application should be made 
to the conductor before reaching station where stop-over is required. 



64 WESTERN CANADA — SETTLERS' EFFECTS. 

SETTLERS' EFFECTS 

Freig-ht Regfulations for their Carriage on the C.P.R. 

1. The rates in this tariff are subject to the General Notices and 
Conditions of Carriage printed in the Company's form of Shipping 
Receipt, and will apply only on shipments consigned to actual settlers, 
and are entirely exclusive of cartage at stations where this service is 
performed by the Railway Company's Cartage Agents. 

2. Carloads of Settlers' Effects, within the meaniug of this tariff, 
may be made up of the following described property for the benefit of 
actual settlers, viz.: Live Stock, any number up to but not exceed- 
ing ten (10) head, all told, viz.: Cattle, calves, sheep, hogs, mules or 
horses; Household Goods and personal property (second-hand); 
Waggons, or other vehicles for personal use (second-hand); Farm 
Machinery, Implements and Tools (all second-hand); Lumber and 
Shingles, which must not exceed 2,500 feet in all, or the equivalent 
thereof; cr in lieu of, not in addition to the lumber and shlnglet, a 
Portable House may be shipped; Seed Grain; small quantity of Trees 
or shrubbery; small lot Live Poultry or pet animals; and sufficient 
feed for the live stock while on the journey. Settlers' Effects rates, 
however, will not apply on shipments of second-hand "Waggons, 
Buggies, Farm Machinery, Implements or Tools, unless accompaniea 
by Household Goods. 

3. Car Rental and Storage of Freight in Cars.— Under this tariff 
when freight is to be loaded by consignor, or unloaded by consignee, 
one dollar ($1.00) per car per day or fraction thereof, for delay beyond 
48 hours in loading or unloading, will be added to the rates named 
herein, and constitute a part of the total charges to be collected by 
the carriers on the property. 

4. Should the allotted number of Live Stock be exceeded, the addi- 
tional animals will be charged for at proportionate rates over and 
above the carload rate for the Settlers' Effects, but the total charge for 
any one such car will not exceed the regular rate for a straight car- 
load of Live Stock. 

5. Passes.— One man will be passed free in charge of live stock 
when forming part of carloads, to feed, water and care for them in 
transit. Agents will use the usual form of Live Stock contract. 

6. Less than Carload Shipments.— Less than carloads will be under- 
stood to mean only Household Goods (second-hand). Waggons, or 
other vehicles for personal use (second-hand) and second-hand Farm 
Machinery, Implements and Tools. Settlers' Effects rates, however, 
will not apply on shipments of second-hand Waggons, Buggies, Farm 
Machinery, Implements or Tools, unless accompanied by Household 
Goods. Less than carload lota must be plainly addressed. 

7. Merchandise, such as groceries, provisions, hardware, etc., also 
implements, machinery, vehicles, etc., if new, will not be regarded as 
Settlers' Effects, and, if shipped, will be charged the regular classified 
tariff rates. While the Canadian Pacific Railway is desirous of con- 
tinuing to give liberal encouragement to settlers, both as to the 



WESTERN CANADA — SETTLERS' EFFECTS. 



65 



variety of the effects which may be loaded in cars, and the low rates 
thereon, it is also the duty of the Company to protect the merchants 
of the Northwest by preventing as far as possible, the loading of 
merchandise of a general character in cars with personal effects. 
Agents, both at loading and delivering stations, are, therefore, strictly 
enjoined to give their personal attention to the preventing of the 
loading of contraband articles, aud to see that the actual weights are 
way-billed when carloads exceed 24,000 lbs. 

8. Top Loads.— Agents must not permit, under any circumstances, 
any article to be loaded on the top of box or stock cars; such manner 
of loading is dangerous, and is absolutely forbidden. 

9. Settlers' effects, to be entitled to the carload rates, cannot be 
stopped at any point short of destination for the purpose of unloading 
part. The entire carload must go through to the station to which 
originally consigned. 

10. The Carload rates on Settlers' Effects apply on any shipment 
occupying a car, and weighing 24,000 lbs. or less. If the carload 
weighs over 24,000 lbs., the additional weight will be charged for at 
rates shown. 

11. Minimum Charge|— Minimum charge on any shipment will be 
100 lbs. at regular first-class rate. 

12. Settlers' Effects ex connecting lines must be charged full 
rates from Canadian Pacific Railway Junction points. 




B. A. ERASER S RANCH AT ELBOW, TWELVE MILES FROM CALGARY 



66 WESTERN CANADA — CUSTOMS EGULATION 

CUSTOMS REGULATIONS 

Settlers' Effects 

Settlers' Effects; viz. : Wearing apparel, household furniture, books, 
implements and tools of trade, occupation or employment, musical 
instrumeots, domestic sewing machines, live stock, carts and other 
vehicles and agricultural implements in use by the settler for at least 
a year before his removal to Canada, not to include machinery, or 
articles imported for use in any manufacturing establishment, or for 
sale, also books, pictures, family plate or furniture, personal effects 
and heirlooms left by bequest; provided that any dutiable article 
entei'ed as settlers' effects may not be so entered unless brought with 
the settler on his fii'st arrival, and shall not be feold or otherwise dis- 
posed of without payment of duty, until after twelve months actual 
use in Canada; provided also that under regulations made by the 
Controller of Customs, live stock, when imported into Manitoba or 
the Northwest Territories by intending settlers shall be free until 
otherwise ordered by the Governor-in-Council. 

Settlers arriving from the United States are allowed to enter duty 
free siojk m ihe lullowmg proporlioiis : One aniniai of neai block or 
horses for each ten acres of land purchased or otherwise secured under 
homestead entry, and one sheep or swine for each acre so secured. 

The settler will be required to fill up a form (which will be sup- 
plied him by the customs officer on application), giving description, 
value, etc., of the goods and articles he wishes to be allowed to bring 
in free of duty. He will also be required to take the following oaths: 

I do hereby solemnly make oath and say, that all the 

goods and articles hereinbefore mentioned are, to the best of my know- 
ledge and belief, entitled to free entry as settlers' effects, under the 
tariff duties of customs now in force, and that all of them have been 
owned and in actual use by myself for at least six months before 
removal to Canada; and that none of the goods or articles shown 
in this entry have been imported as merchandise or for any use in 
manufacturing establishment, or for sale, and that I intend becoming 
a permanent settler within the Dominion of Canada. 

The following oath shall be made by intending settlers when im 
porting live stock in Manitoba or the Northwest Territories, free of 
duty: 

I do solemnly swear that I am now moving into Mani- 
toba (or the Northwest Territories), with the intention of becoming a 
settler therein, and that the live stock enumerated and described in 
the entry hereunto attached is intended for my own use on the farm 
which I am about to occupy (or cultivate) and not for sale or specula- 
tive purposes, nor for the use of any other person or persons whom- 
soever. 

No Cattle Quarantine 

The regulations regarding the quarantine of settlers' cattle for 
ninety days before entering Canada, have been cancelled and no delay 
whatsoever Is now experienced at the boundary line beyond that 
ordinarily required for inspection. 



WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL NFORMATION. 67 

GENERAL INFORMATION 

How to Obtain a Ranch 

If it is the intention to embark in the business of raising cattle, 
liorses or sheep on a large scale, an extent of gi'ound equal to the 
rancher's requirements can be obtained under lease from the Dominion 
Government on the following easy terms: 

The lease shall be for a period not exceeding twenty-one years. 
The lessee shall pay an annual rental of two cents an acre. The 
lessee shall within three years place one head of cattle for every 
twenty acres of land covered by his lease; at least one-third the 
number of cattle stipulated for shall be placed on the range within 
each of the three years from the date of the order-in-council granting 
the lease. Whether he be a lessee or not, no person shall be allowed 
to place sheep upon public lands in Manitoba and the Northwest with- 
out permission from the Minister of the Interior. Full particulars 
can be obtained on application to the Minister of Interior, Ottawa. 

Capitalists coming to this country and wishing to engage in this 
business will find thousands of acres of un,occupied meadow lands, 
possessing every attraction and advantage from which to choose a 
location. 

Capital Required 

The question " How much is necessary?" Is a difRcult one to an- 
swer. It depends upon circumstances. Very many men have gone 
into Western Canada without any capital and have prospered. A 
little capital, however, makes the start easier and saves valuable time. 
Some statements of what can be done upon a certain capital, say 500 
dollars (flOO) or 1,000 dollars (£200), or 3,000 dollars (£600), may, never- 
theless, -be advantageous. 

This information has been given by many writers, in tables of 
various kinds and for various localities, but all amount to about the 
same conclusions, namely: 

The 500 dollars (£100) will set a man down upon some western 
quarter-section (160 acres) obtained as free homestead, or one chosen 
among the cheaper lands belonging to the railway company, and 
enable him to build a house and stay there until his farm becomes 
productive and self-supporting. 

In this connection a practical farmer of some years' residence in 
Manitoba speaks as follows: 

" Land can be purchased cheaply here, or it can be had for nothing 
by homesteading. A single man can start on an outlay of $385, made 



68 WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL INFORMATION. 

up as follows: One yoke of oxen and harness, $100; plow, harrow, etc., 
$40; stove and kitchen furnishings, $40; bedding, etc., $20; lumber, 
doors, windows, etc., for log house, $50; provisions, $90; seed, $30. A 
farmer with a family of five would have to lay out $240 more, bring- 
ing his outlay up to about $600. 

" A farmer can come in about the middle of March, select his 
land and build his shanty; he can commence to plough about the 
fifth of April; he can break 10 acres and put it under crop on the 
sod; he can continue breaking for two months after he puts the ten 
acres under crop, and can break 30 acres, and backset the 40 acres in 
the fall ready for crop in the spring. He can rais>e enough on the 
ten acres to give him a start; he can cut hay enough for his oxen and 
a cow in July, and it will cost him about $60 additional to seed the 
forty acres in the spring." 

It must not be forgotten, however, that hundreds have arrived at 
Winnipeg without any money, and by first working on wages have 
prospered and become substantial farmers. 

When to Go 

The best time to arrive in Western Canada for those who have 
decided where they will locate, or for young men expecting employ- 
ment on a farm, is March. The latter will then have opportunities of 
visiting different sections, if they desire, before the busy season sets 
in, and the actual settler with a family will be able to get settled be- 
fore the farm work claims his attention. Those wishing to make a 
prospecting tour with the idea of becoming settlers should start dur- 
ing the summer or early fall—from the beginning of June to the end of 
August— when the conditions are most favorable for the selection of 
land. 

Educational Facilities 

The management of the school system in the Territories is vested 
in a Council of Public Instruction, consisting of four members of the 
local government and four appointed members without votes — two 
Protestant and two Roman Catholics. A school district comprises an 
area of not more than twenty-five square miles, and must contain not 
less than four resident ratepayers and twelve children between the 
ages of five and sixteen, inclusive. Any three qualified ratepayers may 
petition for the formation of a school district, and upon its proclama- 
tion the ratepayers therein may establish a school and elect trustees 
to manage it. These trustees have power to erect and equip buildings, 
engage certificated teachers, levy taxes and perform such other acts as 
may be necessary for the proper conduct of a school. The classes of 
schools established are denominated Public and Separate. The 
minority of the ratepayers in any organized public school district. 



WESTERN CANADA— GENERAL INFORMATION. 69 

whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, may establish a separate 
school therein, and In such case the ratepayers establishing such Pro- 
testant or Roman Catholic separate school, shall be liable only to 
assessment of such rates as they impose upon themelves in respect- 
thereof. Any person who is legally assessed or assessable for a public 
school shall not be liable to assessment for any separate school estab- 
lished therein. Schools are maintained by legislative grants and by 
local taxation. The school year for which grants may be paid does 
not exceed 210 teaching days. The legislative grant is paid as 
follows:— For each day a school (with an average attendance of at 
least six pupils) Is open, $1.40; for every pupil in average daily attend- 
ance an additional grant of $1.50 per school year; for a teacher holdins 
a second class certificate 10 cents, or a first class certificate, 20 cents 
for each day such teacher is actually engaged in. teaching; to each 
school according to its grading on inspector's reports a sum not ex- 
ceeding 15 cents per day. The grant paid in no case exceeds 70 per 
cent, of the salary earned by the teacher. High schools receive a 
special additional grant of $75 per term. In the programme of studies 
provision is made for teaching the elementary subjects, and such addi- 
tional subjects as are required for teachers' examinations and univer- 
sity matriculation. The last half hour of school may be devoted to 
such religious instruction as the trustees may determine. In 1809 
there were 453 schools In operation with 543 teachers and 18,801 
pupils. Towards the support of these schools the Legislature expended 
$142,455. The people take a keen Interest In their schools, and pro- 
vide means for giving children as practical an education as can be 
obtained in the older provinces, or any other part of the civilized 
globe. 

Harvest Hands 

So bountiful are the harvests that it is now necessary to bring in 
from Eastern Canada from 5,000 to 10,000 farm laborers to work 
in the wheat fields. These earn good wages, and many remain 
and become actual settlers themselves. Cheap rates are offered 
to points in Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, and 
special trains run for their accommodation. Those who go are given 
certificates and when they have them properly filled out and signed 
by the employer to the effect that the holder has done one month's 
farm work he is returned to his destination at a low fare. Agents 
meet each train en route, with maps of the province on which is 
marked the number of laborers required in each locality. By this 
means laborers are easily directed to where they can obtain work 
without any delay, and all confusion and congestion in large centres 
are avoided. The special farm laborers' excursions run about the 
middle of August, when harvesting operations are commencing, and 
steady employment can be obtained during that month, September, 



70 WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL INFORMATION. 

October and part of November to take off the crops and complete the 
threshing of the same. 

Cost of Supplies 

There are a large number of towns, villages and hamlets scatter- 
ed throughout the entire country from Lake of the Woods to the 
Rocky Mountains, at. which articles needed by farmers are readily 
obtainable. Reasonable prices are charged, generally, but not always, 
a very small advance on eastern figures. The general stores in the 
smaller villages usually carry full lines of luxuries as well as the 
necessaries of life. The large implement firms have agencies in 
almost every settlement and lumber yards have also been established. 

Irrigation 

In the southern portion of the District of Alberta and the western 
portion of the District of Assiniboia it is now generally recognized 
that during the majority of years irrigation is necessary to ensure the 




IIMIIOATION WOHKS, SOUTHERN ALBERTA 

production of grain or fodder crops, the rainfall during the growing 
season being too small to produce certain crops by the ordinary 
methods of farming. The aridity of these districts, while necessitating 
irrigation, really constitutes one of the chief features in the great 
success which has attended stock raising and dairying therein, the dry 
summer seasons being accompanied by an almost total absence of 



WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL INFORMATION. 71 



flies, and resulting in a natural curing of the prairie grass in such a 
manner that the nutritive qualities are retained, and stock grazing 
outside during the winter will keep in good condition. 

With irrigation to produce good fodder crops every year ranching 
and dairy or mixed farming in these portions of the Territories offer 
many attractions to the immigrant who does not want to go in for 
purely farming operations, and very satisfactory development in both 
of these lines has taken place during the past few years. Irrigation 
in these districts has now extended entirely beyond the experimental 
stage and the experience of the past few years has conclusively proved 
that the crops of grain, including wheat, oats, and barley, and fodder 
crops, including timothy, bromus and alfalfa, as well as all kinds of 
roots and vegetables raised by means of irrigation will compare 
favorably with crops of a similar character produced in the ordinary 
way iu any other portion of the Northwest Territories. 

The large and healthy growth of irrigation development . in the 
districts referred to- is entirely the outcome of the efforts of the 
resident population to supply fodder which is the only need to make 
the arid portion of the Territories an ideal stock and dairying country, 
and is not in any sense attributable to efforts to " boom " irrigation 
or the construction of irrigation works. 

The irrigation works constructed and in operation in the different 
portions of the arid region may be divided into the following districts: 

Canals and 
Ditches in 
operation. 

Calgary District 80 

High River District 16 

Macleod District 15 

Pincher Creek District 211 

Lethbridge District 25 

Maple Creek District 27 

Battleford District 6 

Regina District 10 

200 
These ditches or canals comprise a total length of some 591 miles, 
and the acreage susceptible of irrigation therefrom is approximately 
800,000 acres. The larger number of these ditches and canals 
are private undertakings, constructed for the irrigation of lands be- 
longing to individual owners or ranch companies, but some of the 
larger works such as those constructed by the Calgary Irrigation Com- 
pany, the Springbank Irrigation District, and the Canadian Northwest 
Irrigation Company, are corporate undertakings designed to supply a 
large quantity of water and reclaim large areas of land as business 
ventures. Good farms susceptible of irrigation from these large 
canals can be obtained at from $8.00 to $10.00 per acre, with the furcli^r 
advantage that under the Northwest Irrigation Act an absolute title is 



72^ WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL INFORMATION. 

obtained to the water required for irrigation, and the irrigation farmer 
is not subjected to the disputes and troubles regarding water rights 
which have hampered irrigation development in other portions of 
Western America. 

Farming by means of irrigation is a novelty to immigrants from 
the older portions of the Dominion of Canada, from Great Britain, and 
from several of the European countries, but to the immigrant from 
those portions of the older countries where irrigation is practiced, and 
from the Western portion of the United States, the opportunity of 
obtaining a good irrigated farm affords a primary inducement to 
locate and make a home for himself and family in Southern Alberta or 
Western Asslniboia. 

It may also be pointed out that the rapid mining development 
which is taking place in the adjoining Province of British Columbia 
has created a splendid market for all the products of the irrigated 
farms in Alberta and Assiniboia, and has done much to put irrigation 
on the satisfactory basis which it now occupies. Many owners of 
irrigated farms are devoting themselves entirely to the growth of 
timothy as hay for that market, and are finding ready sale for all 
their product at from $9 to $11 a ton. 

Milling- in Western Canada 

Wheat-flour milling is the most important manufacturing interest 
in Western Canada, and the product not only finds a ready market 
throughout the whole Dominion, but is exported to Great Britain, 
Newfoundland, China and Japan and Australia. Mills are located at 
different points throughout the country, one at Keewatin having a 
daily capacity of 3,000 barrels, and another at Winnipeg of 2,500 
barrels, and the total daily capacity of the 66 mills reaches 13,230 
barrels. There are also oatmeal mills in operation at Winnipeg, 
Portage la Prairie, Brandon, Pilot Mound, and Strathcona, having a 
daily capacity of 750 barrels. 

Grain Elevators 

The grain elevator system throughout Western Canada is per- 
fect, the facilities now existing being sufficient to handle, if necessary, 
100,000,000 bushels of grain in less than six months' time. The magni- 
ficent system affords a ready market at all seasons of the year, the 
farmer being enabled to have his grain unloaded from his waggon, 
elevated, cleaned and loaded on the cars in an incredibly short space 
of time at very moderate charges. It is within the right of anybody 
or company to erect an elevator anywhere in Manitoba and the Terri- 
tories under exactly the same terms and conditions as those already 
built, the markets being open to anyone who chooses to engage in the 



WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL INFORMATION. 73 

business. There is no monopoly. Farmers are also given the privilege 
of loading their grain into the cars from their waggons. The follow- 
ing table shows the storage capacity of the elevators in Western 
Canada: 

Bushels. 
Canadian Pacific Railway, Port Arthur westwards 19,037,000 

N. P. R 1,641,000 

Canadian Northern R. R 230,000 

Manitoba & Southeastern R. R 40,000 

Grand Total 20,948,000 

In 1891 the total storage capacity was 7,628,000 bushels; in 1892, 
10.366,800 bushels; in 1893, 11,467,000 bushels; in 1895, 13,075,200 
bushels;; in 1896, 15,203,500 bushels; in 1897, 18,624,500 bushels; in 1898, 
19,958,000 bushels; and in 1899, 20,156,000. 

Experimental Farms 

Experimental farms have been established throughout Canada by 
the Government. One of these is at Brandon, Manitoba, and the other 
at Indian Head, Assiniboia. Although only 175 miles apart, the condi- 
tions are entirely different. 

These farms exist for the purpose of ascertaining the most suitable 
varieties of, and the best methods of cultivation for, cereals, grasses, 
roots, and other field crops; the hardiness and general suitability of 
the different varieties of fruits and vegetables, and also the best 
fodders for cattle and other stock. Considerable attention, also, has 
been given to the eradication of injurious insects, noxious weeds, and 
fungus diseases. The system of experimental farms has already aided 
in solving the question of scientific farming, and in the future will 
be a still more potent influence. As practical educators the farms are 
of immense value. 

Agricultural Societies 

There are 47 agricultural societies in the Northwest Territories, 
with a total membership of 5,275. The total receipts of these societies 
in 1899 were nearly $30,000, one-third of which was contributed by the 
Federal and Territorial Governments. A number of Farmers' Insti- 
tutes are also connected with them. 

Encouragement of Pure Bred Stock Importation 

Owing to the comparatively recent settlement of Western Canada, 
especially the Northwest Territories, it is not to be expected that 
establishments for the rearing of pure bred stock could yet be 
numerous enough to meet the growing demands of the country for 



74 WESTERN CANADA — GENERAL INFORMATION. 

that class of stock. There are now a large number of pure bred 
animals raised in the West, but in order to facilitate the importation 
of the best blood on the continent of America, the Territorial Govern- 
ment and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company have joined hands, 
and perfected arrangements whereby pure bred bulls can be brought 
from any point in Ontario to any point in the Territories at a uniform 
rate of $5.00 per head. The railway company ••grants free transporta- 
tion and the Government takes charge of the practical work and pays 
any deficit which may arise. Several hundred brood sows and pure 
bred boars were also brought into the Territories in 1899 under a 
similar arrangement, and sold by public auction to settlers requiring 
them. 

The railway company also endeavored to create a greater interest 
in the breeding of improved cattle and hogs by distributing in Mani- 
toba and the Territories, for the free use of settlers eight car loads of 
pi' re Shorthorn bulls and four car loads of boars of the Tamworth, 
Berkshire and Yorkshire varieties. These animals were placed with 
responsible farmers on the condition that neighbouring settlers are to 
have their service free for two years in the case of bulls, and one 
year in the case of boars, at the expiration of the term the animals 
become absolutely the property of the farmers with whom they were 
placed. 



CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY CO.'S 
PUBLICATIONS 

Among the publications issued by the Canadian Pacific Railway 
Company are pamphlets or folders entitled " British Columbia," " The 
Gold Fields of Cariboo and Kootenay," " Northwestern Ontario Gold 
Fields," " The Klondike and Gold Fields of the Yukon," " New Route to 
Hawaii and Australia," " Around the World," " New Highway to the 
Orient," " Fishing md Shooting," " Westward to the Far East," and 
" East to the West " (guides to the pi'incipal cities of Japan and China, 
cither by the west or east), " The Climates of Canada," " Banfi'," 
" Swiss Guides in the Canadian Rockies," " A Trip to Hawaii," 
" Historic Quebec," " Montreal " and a series of " Summer Tours," 
which can be obtained free of charge from agents of the company. 



WESTERN CANADA — HOW TO REACH IT. 75 



HOW TO REACH THE CANADIAN 
WEST 

Colonists having arrived in Canada at Quebec or Montreal in sum- 
mer, or Halifax, or St. John, N.B., in winter, travel to new homes in 
Ontario, Manitoba, the Territories, or British Columbia by the Cana- 
dian Pacific Railway direct. Settlers from the Eastern States travel 
via Montreal, Pi-escott or Brockville, and thence by the Canadian 
Pacific; but if from southern and western New York or Pennsylvania 
via Niagara Falls, Hamilton, Toronto and North Bay, thence Canadian 
Pacific Railway; those from the Middle States either by Toronto, or by 
Sault Ste. Marie and Portal, Assiuiboia, via St. Paul; from the Middle 
Western States by Portal (or, if for Manitoba by Gretna, Manitoba); 
from the Pacific Coast States by Vancouver or Sumas, or through the 
West Kootenay mining regions and Canadian Pacific from Rossland 
and Nelson. On the same fast transcontinental trains with the first- 
class cars are colonist cars, which are convertible into sleeping cars at 
night, having upper and lower berths constructed on the same prin- 
ciple as those of first-class sleeping cars, and equally as comfortable as 
to ventilation, etc. They are taken through, without change, all the 
way from Montreal to Manitoba. No other railway can do this. No 
extra charge is made for this sleeping accommodation. Second-class 
passengers, however, must provide their own bedding. If they do not 
bring it with them, a complete outfit of mattress, pillow, blanket and 
curtains will be supplied by the agent of the company at the point of 
starting, at a cost of $2.50— ten shillings. The curtains may be hung 
around a berth, turning it into a little private room. In addition to 
this, men travelling alone are cut off from families by a partition 
across the car near the middle, and smoking is not permitted in that 
part of the car where the women and children are. 

The trains stop at stations where mealo are served in refreshmeut 
rooms, and where hot coffee and tea and well-cooked food may be 
bought at very reasonable prices. The cars are not allowed to become 
over-crowded, and the safety and welfare of passengers are carefully 
attended to. Every possible care is taken that the colonist does not go 
astray, lose his property or suffer imposition. Where a large number 
of colonists are going to the west together special fast trains of 
colonist sleeping cars are despatched. 

No other railway in America offers such good accommodation to 
colonist passengers as does the Canadian Pacific. 

All trains are met upon arrival at Winnipeg, or before reaching 
that city, by the agents of the Government and Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way Company, wko give colonists all the information and advice they 
require in regard to their new home. 



76 WESTERN CANADA — HOW TO REACH IT. 

In cases where some locality for settlement has been selected, at 
which friends are awaiting them, they are shown how to proceed 
directly to that point. If they have not decided upon such a locality, 
but intend to seek a home somewhere further west, every information 
can be obtained at the railway company's land office, or the Govern 
ment Immigration Office In Winnipeg, a short distance from the rail- 
way station. 

Special round-trip explorers' tickets can be obtained at the Com- 
pany's Land Office, the full price of which will be refunded if the 
holder purchases 160 acres or more. In this way land hunters are 
enabled to make a personal Inspection of the land free of cost for 
themselves. 

Most men wish to examine and choose for themselves the section 
which sepms to them the most suitable, and this is strongly recom- 
mended in every case. They are assisted in doing this by oflacials 
appointed by the Government for the purpose. Meanwhile, the family 
and baggage can remain at the government immigration house in 
safety and comfort. Providing themselves with food in the city mar- 
kets, they can cook their own meals upon the stoves in the house, and, 
with the bedding that has served them during their journey, they can 
sleep in comfort in the bunk bedsteads with which the rooms are fitted. 
Should they prefer, however, to stop at an hotel, they will find in Win- 
nipeg public houses of all grades, where the total cost for each person 
varies from $1 (4s.) to $3 (12s.) a day, according to circumstances, and 
good boarding houses are numerous, at which the charges are some- 
what lower. 

It sometimes happens that the intending settler has not much more 
than sufficient money to carry him as far as Winnipeg. In that case 
he will be anxious to begin immediately to earn some money. The 
Dominion Government has an agency at Winnipeg, whose business it is 
to be informed where labor is needed. Societies representing almost 
all the nationalities of Europe have been formed in Winnipeg, and will 
welcome and see to the welfare of their respective countrymen. 

At certain seasons farmers are on the look-out for able men and 
pay good wages, generally averaging $15 (£3) to $20 (£4) per month 
and board, and during harvesting as high as from $25 (£5) to $40 
(£8) per month and board is paid. The girls of a family usually find 
employment in Winnipeg and other towns, in domestic service, in 
hotels, shops, factories and establishments employing female labor. 
Good wages are paid to capable girls and there is usually a greater 
demand for them than can be supplied. 



NORTHERN ONTARIO — RAINY RIVER DISTRICT. 77 



NORTHERN ONTARIO 

The Rainy River District 

While this pamphlet is chiefly devoted to a description of the 
prairie regions of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, it will 
not be out of place to refer briefly to the unsettled lands of North- 
western Ontario. To those who prefer a land of river, lake and 
forest to a prairie country— or to those who prefer to remain nearer 
the Eastern Provinces of the Dominion, the Rainy River District 
presents many attractions. 

Before reaching Manitoba, the traveller on the C.P.R. passes 
through the northern portion of this region, but the fertile belt esti- 
mated to contain about 600.000 acres of good agricultural land, lies 
principally in the valley of the llxiny River. The Rainy River forms 
for some distance the boundar\ between Ontario and the United 
States. It is a fine navigable stream from 150 to 200 yards wide, and 
connects the Lake of the Woode wii !i Rainy Lake, a distance of about 
eighty miles. The river passes through a rich, alluvial tract of a 
uniform black loam of great depth. Nearly all the land fronting 
on the river is suitable for agriculture, and a considerable settle- 
ment already exists there. Fort Frances, the principal town on Rainy 
River, has a sawmill and several flourishing stores and industries; 
its population is about 1.400. The region is reached during the season 
of navigation by steamer from Rat Portage, on the main line of the 
C.P.R. The climate In winter, while being perhaps a few degrees 
colder than that of older Ontario, is remarkably healthful and plea- 
sant, and the snow fall is not deep. Vegetation is luxuriant in the 
extreme; all the cereal and grass crops common to Ontario grow 
there, and garden crops flourish exceedingly. The country is well 
wooded with pine, oak, elm, ash, basswood, soft maple, poplar, birch, 
balsam, spruce, cedar and tamarack. Lumbering operations are ex 
tensively carried on. and there are well-equipped sawmills on Rainy 
River, Rainy Lake and at Rat Portage. As a mining region the Rainy 
River district is yet in its infancy, but its possibilities In this re- 
gard are known to be very great. Numerous and valuable discoveries 
of gold and other minerals have been made throughout the district, 
and at the present time the country Is attracting the attention of 
capitalists and investors. There are several important gold mines 
now being worked on the Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake and Seine 
River, and elsewhere mining operations are being actively carried ob. 
Thug the mining and lumbering industries combined, afford the settler 
the best of markets for his produce »t price* conaiderably higher 



78 • NORTHERN ONTARIO — RAINY RIVER DISTRICT. 

than can be secured in Eastern Ontario. The lands are owned and 
administered by the Government of Ontario (Department of Crown 
Lands, Toronto), and are open for settlement in 160 acre lots free, 
with conditions' of residence, cultivation of ten acres for every 100 
purchased and erection of buildings. 

Any person may explore Crown Lands for minerals, and mining 
lands may be purchased outright or leased at rates fixed by the 
Mines Act. The minimum area of a location is forty acres. Prices 
range from $2 to $3.50 per acre, the higher price for lands in sur- 
veyed territory and within six miles of a railway. The rental charge 
is at the rate of $1 per acre for the first year and from 30 cents to 
15 cents per acre for subsequent years, according to distance from a 
line of railway and whether the land is situated in surveyed or un- 
surveyed territory; but the leasehold may be converted into freehold 
at the option of the tenant, at any time during the term of the 
lease, in which case the first year's rent is allowed on the purchase 
money. At the expiration of ten years, if all conditions have been 
complied with, the lessee is entitled to a patent without further cost 
and free from all working conditions. A royalty of not more than 
three per cent, is reserved, based on the value of the ore, less cost 
of mining and subsequent treatment for the market, but not to be im- 
posed until seven years after the date of the patent or lease. 

The Wabigfoon Country, Rainy River District ~ 

North of the country bordering on the Rainy River, described 
above, and directly on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, is 
a section to which the Wabigoon River gives its name. Atten- 
tion was first drawn to it five years ago by the Ontario Govern- 
ment establishing there what was called a " Pioneer Farm," for the 
purpose of demonstrating the agricultural capabilities of the country, 
which had hitherto remained undeveloped. The precise location of the 
farm is 215 miles east of Winnipeg, and 80 miles east of Rat Portage. 
After one year's successful experiment the land was thrown open 
for settlement (that is. in the spring of 1896), since which time 
it has been rapidly taken up. The settlers consist almost entirely 
of a good class of Ontario farmers, and the development of the 
country is being pushed forward with energy. The little town of 
Dryden, on the C.P.R., and Wabigoon are the business centres of 
the district. They possess a number of stores, hotels, railway sta- 
tions, small sawmill, etc.. and have steamboat communication via 
Lake Wabigoon with the mines in the vicinity. 

The land is not free grant, but it is sold to actual settlers only, 
at fifty cents per acre (consequent upon certain improvements), one- 
fourth down and the balance in annual instalments. How much 
agricultural land there may be available at this point has not as 



NORTHERN ONTARIO — ALGOMA AND NIPISSING DISTRICTS. 79 



yet been definitely ascertained, but it is known to be limited in ex- 
tent. The chief advantages of the country are as follows: First, 
the Canadian Pacific Railway passes through it, which renders ac- 
cess easy at all times of the year, and places it within the reach 
of such centres as Rat Portage and Winnipeg. Second, good mar- 
kets are to be found in the mining and lumbering camps near-by, 
and also at Rat Portage, a thriving town on the C.P.R., and the 
centre of the milling and mining industries of the district. Third, 
the land, although not a prairie, is easily cleared. Some stretches 
are entirely destitute of timber, having been swept by forest fires, 
and require only a little underbrushing before the plough starts to 
work. Elsewhere the growth is light, and may be cleared with 
much less labor than is required in heavily timbered countries. At 
the same time, sufficient large timber for building purposes is to be 
found here and there, so that, as will be seen, the advantages of a 
prairie and of a timbered country are here combined to a lai'ge 
extent. The country is well watered, and possesses a good soil and a 
good climate. It is adapted to mixed farming, but particularly to 
dairying and stock-raising. 

Alg-oma and Nipissing- Districts 

In the vicinity of Port Arthur and Fort William, two important 
points- on Thunder Bay, Lake Superior, there are a number of town- 
ships of good agricultural land similar to that of the Rainy River 
Valley, besides a country rich in gold, silver and iron. The land here 
is given as free grants, subject to settlement duties. Eastward along 
the north shore of Lake Superior, the country is found to be wild 
and rocky in the extreme. Whatever may be its mineral wealth, 
which has not as yet been ascertained to any extent, it is certainly 
not suited to agriculture. At Sault Ste. Marie, however, at the 
junction of Lakes Superior and Huron, another stretch of country 
adapted for settlement is reached. The country to the north of Lake 
Huron is known as the Algoma District, and includes St. Joseph 
and Great Manitoulin Islands. It contains a large proportion of 
fertile land, but sparsely settled, yet considerable development has 
already taken place. Already there are thriving settlements not only 
on the large Islands of St. Joseph and Manitoulin, but here and 
there along the north shore also, from Goul's Bay, about twenty or 
twenty-five miles north-east of Sault Ste. Marie, to the valley of 
the French River, some 200 miles to the eastward, and elsewhere. 
The country is fairly accessible, the Canadian Pacific running through 
it from end to end, and this fact, together with its nearness to centres 
of population, and the cheapness of its land, ranging from 50 cents to 
$2 per acre, renders It an attractive field for settlement. There seems 
to be no doubt that it win one day become the seat of very large 



80 • NORTHERN ONTARIO — THE TEMISKAMING COUNTRY. 



Sheep-raising, dairying and stock-raising interests, for wliich pur- 
pose it is pre-eminently adapted. 

Sault Ste. Marie is the central point of the Algoma District. The 
town is easily reached either from older Ontario or the United States. 
It is situated on the " Soo line." a branch of the Canadian Pacific, con- 
necting with St. Paul and Minneapolis, in the west and Boston in the 
east. In addition several steamship lines call there. Large pulp and 
paper mills, iron smelters and other industries, are making Sault Ste. 
Marie an important industrial centre. The Algoma Central Railway is 
also being constructed from Sault Ste. Marie northwards, and will aid 
materially in the development of the country. 

The land, while very rich, is not in an unbroken, continuous stretch, 
as is the case in the southern portion of Ontario. Its physical 
characteristics and appearances are entirely different, and is adapted 
to special lines of agricultural production. Taken as a whole, the 
country may be described as an undulating plateau or table-land, 
elevated some 600 or 1,000 feet above the sea level, covered for the 
most part by a vigorous growth of forest. Between the ridges and 
protected by them, stretches of arable land, often unbroken for 
thousands of acres, wind in and out. As a dairy, stock and sheep- 
raising country it has all the advantages of cheap land, good trans- 
portation facilities, rich soil, good water and cheap building material, 
while its climate is unexcelled for the production of vigorous stock 
and vigorous men. 

The Algoma and Nipissing districts are known to be rich In a 
variety of minerals. Gold, silver, copper and iron have been dis- 
covered to the north of Lake Huron, and elsewhere, and it contains 
the most extensive nickel deposits In the world, which are now being 
worked In the vicinity of Sudbury. 

The Temiskaming Country 

Another agricultural section in the northern part of the province 
is the Temiskaming coimtry, which borders on Lake Temiskaming, 
a broadening of the Ottawa River. It is in the Nipissing District, 
and about two hundred and fifty miles north of Toronto in a direct 
line. It is reached from Mattawa on the C P. R., partly by railway, 
along the eastern bank of the Ottawa River, and afterwards by 
steamboat on Lake Temiskaming. 

The whole country is overlaid by a rich alluvial soil, level In 
character, and equal in fertility to any in the province. The land 
is thickly timbered with a somewhat small growth, but for the 
most part may be cleared without excessive labor. Its capabilities 
as to climate and productiveness are very similar to those of the 
country above described, but its unbroken character gives it an addi- 
tional attraction. There is a very extensive area of very fertile farm 
land in this section, 600,000 acres of which have been placed on the 
market at fifty cents per acre. The country is attracting quite a 
number of settlers from the older parts of Ontario and Quebec, and 
is well worthy of attention. The region of the Upper Ottawa is to- 
day one of the most important lumbering districts in Canada, and 
affords the settler an excellent market for the products of the farm. 

A pamphlet giving full particulars regarding Northern Districts 
of Ontario may be obtained on application to the Department of 
Crown Lands, Toronto. Ontario 



THE CANAIIIAN PARU^in fiilll WAY 



ifX 






■^ 



*. 



vv 



THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY 



THE ONLY ROUTE TO THE 
RTILE FARM LANDS OF 



WESTERN CANADA 



THE MINING, LUMBERING, FISHING 
AND FARMING REGIONS OF 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



Is also the BEST to the States of WASHIKO-TON and OKE(JON and all points on Fnfrr.t Sound 
and the Pacific Coast, and the Shortest Koute to the KLONDIKE 
and ATLIN GOLD FIELDS 

BE SURE AND ASK YODR STEAMSHIP AGENT FOR PASSAGE BY THIS LINE OP RAILW.iy 




COLONIST SLEEPING CARS 

Are supplied for all holdersof Second Class or Colonist Tickets free of charge. Passengers are, however, 

required to provide their own beddingr. If they do not bring it with them, sleeping- car outfit may be 

purchased from the railway agent at the port of landing at a very reasonable price. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION APPLY TO STEAMSHIP AGENT, OR TO 
I rnUl\r Dnl/nr (67-68 King William St.. E.C« Cockspur St.. S.W London, Eno. 

AlCnGl 08X61 9 ■'^--S'-- •■<,■; LIVEKPOO., ENO. 

(.87 St. Vmcent Jst Glasgow 

A. H. NOTMAN Assistant General Passenger Agent 1 King St. East, Toronto 

E. V. SKINNER General Eastern Agent 3i3 Broadway, New York 

A. C. SHAW Acting General Agent, Passenger Department 228 South Clark St., Chicago 

M. M. STERN District Freightand Passenger Agent.. .627 Market St., Palace Hotel BId'g, San Francisco 

A. J. HEATH. District Passenger Agent St. John, N.B. 

H. J. COLVIN District Passenger Agent 197 Washington St., Boston. Mass. 

C E. McPHERSON. General Passenger Agent, Lines West of Lake Superior Winnipeq 

W. R. CALLAWAY .General Passenger Agent, Sou Line Minneapolis, Minn. 

G. W. HIBBARD General Pass»-nger Agent, South Shore Line Marquettb, Mich. 

E. J. COYLE Assistant General Passenger Agent Vancouver, B.C. 

C. E. E. US8HER ..General Passenger Agent, Lines East of Lake Superior Montrbal 

ROBT. KERR 



G. M. BOSWORTH 



PASSENGER TRAFFIC MANAGER 

MONTREAL 



FREIGHT TRAFFIC MANAGER 

MONTREAL 



THE GREAT HIGJ 



-TO THE 




PACIFIC COAST 

T^E ORIENT, THE TROPICS, THE ANTIPODES 
-^ AND THE FAR NORTH 

THE BEST, CHEAPEST AND QUICKEST WAY 



-- TO 



Manitoba 



Northern Ontario Alberta The Kiondil(e 

Puget Sound Japan Assiniboia Alasica 
Saskatchewan California Philippines British Columbia 

New Zealand Hawaii Australia 



OR 



AROUND THE WORLD 

-- IS BY THE -- 

CANADIAN PACIFIC RY. 



